Category Archives: Non Fiction

In 1942 Australia faced the threat of invasion by the Japanese. This is what happened. ‘I can’t understand the mentality of the Australian people. One day they are in a panic about the war and the next they want more race meetings.’– John Curtin By March 1942, the Japanese had steamrolled through Malaya, laid siegeContinue reading “On Our Doorstep”

History is always written by the winners and about the winners. But what about the men and women of the past who reached for gold but grasped only morale-sapping silver? Australia’s second-best comedy historian Ben Pobjie celebrates the fascinating stories of those pipped at the post of greatness – from Buzz Aldrin following footsteps onContinue reading “Second Best”

The story of the Savoy’s founders, through three generations and a hundred years of luxury. In 1889, Victorian impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte opened The Savoy, Britain’s first luxury hotel. Allowing the rich to live like royalty, it attracted glamour, scandal and a cast of eccentric characters, with the D’Oyly Carte family elevated to a uniqueContinue reading “The Secret Life of the Savoy”

Richard Ovenden, director of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, reveals the vital importance of libraries to civilisations in this rich and timely history of the destruction of knowledge, and the heroic stories of its rescue and preservation. Opening with the notorious bonfires of ‘un-German’ and Jewish literature in 1933 that offered such a clear signal of NaziContinue reading “Burning the Books”

A radical call to arms and a bold new vision of how we must act, fast, to reconnect society at individual, government and business level, from a global economist hailed by the Observer as ‘one of the world’s leading thinkers’. Professor Noreena Hertz has travelled the world to explore the loneliness epidemic first hand: ‘rentingContinue reading “The Lonely Century”

Discover how humans created their world from the objects they left behind – from the US Constitution to the first iPhone – in DK’s latest history book. From the beginning of human history, the one thing that has defined us is our talent for making things, from basic technology and everyday objects, such as bowlsContinue reading “Civilization”

A boldly illustrated biography-led title profiling more than 90 of the world’s most influential entrepreneurs and business leaders throughout history Discover the lives and achievements of more than 90 of the world’s most inspirational and influential entrepreneurs and business leaders with this book of graphic-led biographies. Boldy illustrated and comprehensive in its scope and depth,Continue reading “Entrepreneurs Who Changed History”

A comprehensive analysis of the political, economic, cultural and technological factors that contributed to America’s decline and inadvertently paved the way for Trump’s presidency. The presidency of Donald Trump is commonly seen as an historical accident. In When America Stopped Being Great, Nick Bryant argues that by 2016 it had become almost historically inescapable. InContinue reading “When America Stopped Being Great”

Boys with everything to live for … A community betrayed … The whistle-blower priest who paid the ultimate price. Glen Walsh and Steven Alward were childhood friends in their tight-knit working-class community in Shortland, on the outskirts of Newcastle, New South Wales. Both proud altar boys at the local Catholic church, they went on toContinue reading “The Altar Boys”

A landmark history of Australia’s first successful settler farming area, which was on the Hawkesbury-Nepean River. Award-winning historian Grace Karskens uncovers the everyday lives of ordinary people in the early colony, both Aboriginal and British. ‘A masterpiece of historical writing that takes your breath away’– Tom Griffiths ‘A majestic book’– John Maynard ‘Shimmering prose’– TiffanyContinue reading “People of the River”