"The seeds of revenge had been planted in the fertile breasts of honour-conscious Afghans, and they eventually bore terrible fruit."
~ from William Dalrymple's The Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42 |
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Big Bargain Book SaleBag a bargain at our famous book sale. On Friday 21 and Saturday 22 March 2014, we will have books, magazines, CDs, DVDs and more on sale at Pioneer Recreation and Sport Centre.
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New and recently released
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Those wild Wyndhams; three sisters at the heart of powerby Claudia RentonThree sisters beautiful, cultured and aristocratic, born into immense wealth during the reign of Queen Victoria. Their dramatic lives are here unfolded in a rich historical biography certain to appeal to fans of Downton Abbey, 'Georgiana' and Stella Tillyard's 'Aristocrats'.
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A history of Britain in thirty-six postage stampsby Christopher WestExplores the history of England through 36 of its fascinating, often beautiful, and sometimes eccentric postage stamps, emphasizing how stamps have always mirrored the events, attitudes, and styles of their time. Stamps tell a story and Chris West's book is the unique, fascinating tale of Great Britain told through its stamps.
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| The Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World by Greg GrandinThe institution of slavery dominated many aspects of the U.S. economy well into the 19th century (including in "free" states), and even abolitionists often believed that Africans were intellectually inferior to Europeans. Amasa Delano, captain of a sealing ship, was one such abolitionist. When his crew boarded another ship in the South Pacific to offer aid, Delano horrendously overreacted after he discovered that West Africans were in control. In his carefully researched and accessible, if disturbing, book, The Empire of Necessity, historian Greg Grandin explains Delano's actions and their context. He also details the nature of the slave trade and relates how the violent shipboard events inspired Herman Melville's short novel Benito Cereno. |
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The voyagers; remarkable European explorations of New Zealandby Paul MoonCaught in the crossfire of inter-tribal wars, witnesses to cannibalism and to scenes of both ethereal beauty and chilling terror - the early European explorers of New Zealand were a diverse group of individuals who undertook voyages of sometimes epic proportions through the country.
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The news : a user's manual
by Alain De Botton
The author of The Art of Travel presents a philosophical assessment of the role of news in today's gadget-driven societies, exploring subjects ranging from politics and crime to celebrities and the paparazzi while considering how the news shapes everyday worldviews.
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Redefining girly : how parents can fight the stereotyping and sexualizing of girlhood, from birth to tweenby Melissa Atkins WardyActivist Melissa Wardy shares tangible advice for getting young girls to start thinking critically about sexed-up toys and clothes while also talking to girls about body image issues. She provides tips for creating a home full of diverse, inspiring toys and media free of gender stereotypes. She shows how to use consumer power to fight the harmful media and products bombarding girls. Redefining Girly provides specific parenting strategies, templates, and sample conversations and includes letters from some of the leading experts in education, psychology, child development, and girls' advocacy.
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Sex and punishment : four thousand years of judging desire
by Eric Berkowitz
A lawyer and writer describes sex laws through the ages, from the Ancient Mesopotamian's harsh impalement of adulterers to Oscar Wilde's 1895 incarceration for “gross indecency” and discusses royal mistresses, gay charioteers, medieval transvestites and London rent boys along the way.
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| Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA by John Anthony RizzoJohn Rizzo, a career lawyer for the CIA, observed the inside workings of "The Agency" for 30 years. His job was to spot possible violations of U.S. law before they occurred and head them off, which meant that he was at the center of many of the CIA's operations before they became widely known. In his memoir, Company Man, Rizzo relates fascinating details of people and events behind the headlines. Without compromising national security, Rizzo discusses KGB defectors, Iran-Contra, "black sites," the destruction of video recordings of the torture of an al-Qaeda agent, and much more. Anyone interested in the connections between espionage and politics will find Rizzo's insights riveting and informative. |
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| The Photographer by Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefèvre, and Frédéric Lemercier; translated by Alexis SiegelIn a riveting compilation of photographs by Didier Lefèvre and illustrations by Emmanuel Guibert, The Photographer recounts Lefèvre's dangerous 1986 round trip between Normandy and Afghanistan as a documentary photographer for Doctors Without Borders. The photographs provide most of the storytelling, while the drawings and text balloons fill in context, supply information where relevant photographs are unavailable, and transport readers to the middle of Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation. The French-language edition of this account of life in a war zone won a Bédélys Prize in Canada and was a European bestseller. |
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| The Favored Daughter: One Woman's Fight to Lead Afghanistan into the Future by Fawzia Koofi with Nadene GhouriOne of her father's 23 children, Fawzia Koofi represents a very small group: educated Afghan women with successful political careers. Koofi's compelling memoir, The Favored Daughter, relates her initial rejection because she was a girl, her family's struggles during her childhood, the Taliban's destruction of her hopes to attend medical school, and her subsequent election as a Member of Parliament from Badakhshan Province. Vividly detailing both the hardships and the hopes of girls and women in Afghanistan, Koofi reaches out to the international community with her plea to support the Afghan government until it can achieve stability on its own. Since the initial publication of The Favored Daughter, Koofi has announced her intention to run for president. |
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| A Fort of Nine Towers: An Afghan Family Story by Qais Akbar OmarAfghan author Qais Akbar Omar's hometown, Kabul, has been destroyed by revolution and wars several times over. In his childhood, the mujahedin destroyed idyllic, fertile Kabul, and the Omar family fled; the pressures of war forced them to move again and again. After they returned to Kabul, the Taliban made life nearly intolerable, but Omar managed to open a carpet shop and provide a living for friends and family. Fear, brutality, and deprivation have ruled his life, though A Fort of Nine Towers also depicts the beauty and wisdom of Afghan traditions. Readers who appreciated Gayle Tzemach Lemmon's The Dressmaker of Khair Khana will find Omar's memoir equally absorbing. |
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| The Places in Between by Rory StewartIn 2002, shortly after the Taliban had been removed from power in Afghanistan, Scottish journalist and scholar Rory Stewart began walking across the country from Herat to Kabul. The land remained devastated by war, the people were unsettled, and life for many Afghans was miserable. The Places in Between draws on Stewart's views of the landscape and the people he met, relating what he learned in interviews with villagers, foreign aid workers, out-of-power Taliban leaders, students, and myriad others. Afghan warmth and generosity -- as well as chaotic, dangerous conditions -- emerge vividly from the pages of this memoir, offering Westerners a degree of clarity about the country and its people. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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