SOLD The definitive history of Australian Jews

 

SOLD to a lawyer in East Sydney

Mint condition. Rare book. HB. 616pp. $35 including postage anywhere in Australia

On 5 decades of comedy

 

Mint condition. HB. 352pp. $30 including postage anywhere in Australia

The world of comedy and comedians of the last five decades, by the man the New York Times calls "a comic institution himself," the only comedian (twenty-six years in stand-up) to have made Elie Wiesel laugh, as well as having appeared on The Tonight Show (140 times, second only to Bob Hope, but who's counting), director of TV comedy series Mad About You, Seinfeld, Friends, Weeds and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

The world of comedy and comedians of the last five decades. By the man the New York Times calls "a comic institution himself," the only comedian (twenty-six years in stand-up) to have made Elie Wiesel laugh, as well as having appeared on The Tonight Show (140 times, second only to Bob Hope, but who's counting). From the director of TV comedy series Mad About You, Seinfeld, Friends, Weeds and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Larry David- "I'm lucky. I know and love David Steinberg. You don't. Now's your chance. Don't blow it!"

"David has always been a comedy hero to me. One of his many gifts is the ability to inspire funny people to be even funnier, as you will discover in this truly hilarious, insightful book." --Martin Short


From David Steinberg, a rabbi's son from Winnipeg, Canada, who at age fifteen enrolled at Hebrew Theological College in Chicago (the rabbinate wasn't for him) and four years later, entered the master's program in English literature at the University of Chicago, until he saw Lenny Bruce, the "Blue Boy" of Comedy, the coolest guy Steinberg had ever seen, and joined Chicago's Second City improvisational group, becoming, instead, the comedian's comedian, director, actor, working with, inspired by, teaching, and learning from the most celebrated, admired, complicated comedians, then and now--a funny, moving, provocative, insightful look into the soul, wit, and bite of comedy and comedians--a universe unto itself--of the last half-century.

From the greats- George Burns, Lenny Bruce, Sid Caesar, Lucille Ball, Mel Brooks, and Carl Reiner, et al., to the newer greats- Carol Burnett, Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin, Billy Crystal, Bob Newhart, and the man for all comedy, Martin (Marty) Short; to the greats of right now- Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Wanda Sykes; and more . . .

Steinberg, through stories, reminiscences, tales of directing, touring, performing, and, through the comedians themselves talking (from more than 75 interviews), makes clear why he loves comedy and comedians who have been by his side in his work, and in his life, for more than sixty years.

Here are- Will Ferrell, Eric Idle, Whoopi Goldberg, Mike Myers, Groucho himself and the greatest of them all (at least of the last half century), Jonathan Winters .

SOLD A refugee travels from war-torn Yemen to America

 

SOLD to a lawyer in East Sydney

Mint condition. PB. 336pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia

A gripping account of terror and escape." -- New York Times Book Review

The Fox Hunt tells one young man's unforgettable story of his harrowing escape from Yemen's brutal civil war with the help of a daring plan engineered on social media by a small group of interfaith activists in the West.

WINNER: 2019 NAUTILUS BOOK AWARDS - A 2019 NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARDS FINALIST

Born in the Old City of Sana'a, Yemen, to a pair of middle-class doctors, Mohammed Al Samawi was a devout Muslim raised to think of Christians and Jews as his enemy. But when Mohammed was twenty-three, he secretly received a copy of the Bible, and what he read cast doubt on everything he'd previously believed. After connecting with Jews and Christians on social media, and at various international interfaith conferences, Mohammed became an activist, making it his mission to promote dialogue and cooperation in Yemen.

Then came the death threats: first on Facebook, then through terrifying anonymous phone calls. To protect himself and his family, Mohammed fled to the southern port city of Aden. He had no way of knowing that Aden was about to become the heart of a north-south civil war, and the battleground for a well-funded proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. As gunfire and grenades exploded throughout the city, Mohammed hid in the bathroom of his apartment and desperately appealed to his contacts on Facebook.

Miraculously, a handful of people he barely knew responded. Over thirteen days, four ordinary young people with zero experience in diplomacy or military exfiltration worked across six technology platforms and ten time zones to save this innocent young man trapped between deadly forces-- rebel fighters from the north and Al Qaeda operatives from the south.

The story of an improbable escape as riveting as the best page-turning thrillers, The Fox Hunt reminds us that goodness and decency can triumph in the darkest circumstances.

The Betoota Advocate 2020 yearbook

 

Mint condition. PB. 256 pp. $18 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Bloody hilarious. 

From the heart of the Western Queensland Channel Country, Australia's oldest and favourite newspaper details our country's very rocky start to a new decade that was supposed to be one of great optimism and innovation.

2020 was meant to be our year of healing. A time to tend to the wounds of a country torn asunder by a decade of divisive political and media debates. A lack of confidence in the international sporting arena. A 24-hour news cycle that has destroyed the pub test.

We thought all of the uncertainty was behind us. The federal election delivered us Scotty from Marketing. The Quiet Australian spoke up. Gay marriage? Yep. Climate change? Let's wait and see what happens. Smudge and Warner had served their time and, together as a nation, it was time to rebuild.

But fate had other plans, starting with the worst bushfires in human memory. While large swathes of the country burned, our politicians were either on holidays or giving their mates grants to build indoor pools in blue-ribbon seats. Surely, it couldn't get worse.

'ken oath it could. Mother nature arrived as COVID-19, and told us all to go to our rooms.

About the Author

The Betoota Advocate is a small and independent regional newspaper from far west Queensland. We pride ourselves on reporting fair and just news with an authenticity that rivals only the salt on the sunburnt earth that surrounds us here in the Queensland Channel Country. Established in the mid-1800s, we are arguably Australia's oldest newspaper and have always taken pride in our ability to report both regional and metropolitan news. Recently, our popularity has grown immensely as result of a bold online revival

SOLD What the West gained from the rest

 

SOLD to an uber driver in Arncliffe

Mint condition. PB. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia

SOLD Introductory textbook on Muslim religious law

 

SOLD to a workplace psychologist in Arncliffe

Mint condition. PB. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.

PJ O'Rourke on why you shouldn't vote

 

Mint condition. PB. 304pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia

Put the country's big, fat political ass on a diet. Lose that drooping deficit. Slim those spreading entitlement programs. Firm up that flabby pair of butt cheeks which are the Senate and the House.

Having had a lot of fun with what politicians do, P.J. O'Rourke now has a lot of fun with what we should think about those politicians. Nothing good, to be sure. 

Best-selling humorist P.J. O'Rourke is back with his latest political masterpiece, Don't Vote--It Just Encourages The Bastards. Using his signature wit and keen observational skills, O'Rourke reflects on his forty year career as a political commentator, spanning his addlepated hippie youth to his current state of right-wing grouch maturity. Don't Vote--It Just Encourages The Bastards is a brilliant, disturbing, hilarious and sobering look at why politics and politicians are a necessary evil--but only just barely necessary. Read P.J. O'Rourke on the pathetic nature of politics and laugh through your tears or--what the hell--just laugh.

Travels in Sri Lanka

 

Mint condition. HB. 528pp. $30 including postage anywhere in Australia

Sri Lanka is a small island with a long, violent and enthralling history. Home to thousands of wild elephants, this is a place where natural beauty has endured, indifferent to human tragedy.
Journeying through its many regions - some haunted by war, many rarely seen by our eyes - award-winning travel writer John Gimlette interviews ex-presidents and cricketers, tea planters and terrorists, negotiating the complex relationships of Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim communities and the more sinister forms of tourism.

Each city raises the ghosts of old colonies: Portuguese, Dutch and British armies striving to claim the most significant ports in the southern seas; each site resurrects a civilization that preceded, and sometimes, outfaced them. The political families of Colombo lead Gimlette through recent years of turmoil, survivors of the tsunami tell of their recovery and, tale by tale, scrap by scrap, the thorny truths of the civil war emerge - a war whose wounds have yet to heal.

As he walks in the steps of old conquerors, follows the secret paths of elephants and marches alongside pilgrims, Gimlette seeks the soul of a country that is struggling to free itself from trauma and embody an identity to match its vitality, its power and its people.

SOLD On mosque architecture

 

SOLD

Ex-library. Mint condition. HB. $50 including postage anywhere in Australia.

An Idle tour of America

 

Excellent condition. PB. 356pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Eric Idle, the legendary star of Monty Python fame, takes fans on a deeply personal and hilarious whirlwind tour around America.

'I still feel somewhat nervous encroaching on the Palin territory of writing a travel diary based on a journey ... though it is true, I reason, that all the Pythons have been involved in documentaries. So this must be a Python thing. What is this urge to probe and examine by ex-comedians? Are they tired of dressing up as women? Surely not.' - Eric Idle

The man who brought you the anthems 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life' and 'Sit on my Face' shows his naughty bits - and much more! As he crossed the US on The Greedy Bastard Tour, Eric Idle kept a diary on the Monty Python website updating fans with his experiences, insights and observations. Inspired by those blogs, THE GREEDY BASTARD DIARY is an honest, hysterical and moving book - part travelogue, part memoir - that chronicles those 80 days on the road, offering Idle's thoughts on his career, personal life and the country he now calls his home. Reflective, ironic, and stamped with his renowned wit, this illuminating work takes readers on a personal tour with the legendary star and offers an intimate, close-up look inside the man as never before.

Travels in Antarctica

 

Mint condition. PB. 320pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia

Looks at past, present and future of Australian involvement in Antarctica. Craig Cormick is a Canberra based award winning author.

Departing Hobart on a seven-week voyage on board the RSV Aurora Australis, Craig Cormick is fulfilling a long-time dream to visit the frozen continent of Antarctica - an adventure to one of the few under-discovered regions of the world. As the ship navigates its way through the wild Southern Ocean and explores the icy coastline of the Antarctic continent, Craig muses about - and with - the great explorer and geologist Douglas Mawson. Mawson's ill-fated but scientifically successful Australasian Antarctic Expedition sailed from Hobart in 1911, as Scott and Amundsen were embarking on their race to the South Pole. 

Visiting the three Australian bases, with Mawson's ghost at his side, Craig Cormick describes the exhilaration of seeing his first iceberg, climbing a mountain on the Antarctic plateau, flying in a helicopter over the Vestfold Hills, photographing Adelie penguins, seeing the spectacular Aurora Australis in the sky, smelling elephant seals and discovering the mysteries of 'crap and wrap' field toilets. In Bed with Douglas Mawson is a humorous and thoughtful exploration of the enduring spirit of discovery, adventure and comradeship around Antarctica.

An award-winning account of the Keating government

 

Mint condition. PB. 272pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

In the early 1980s, Paul Keating set out to reinvent the Australian economy. He floated the Australian dollar, liberated banking and finance from its regulatory shackles, and - most significantly - introduced a universal superannuation scheme. The results were astounding growth in the value of the national economy and in the personal wealth of ordinary Australians.

Keating's revolution was based on his insight that, by encouraging every citizen to save for retirement, a huge pool of investment capital would be created that would help enrich the nation. But the fulfillment of his vision was denied by his political opponents after the Australian people voted Keating out in 1996.

In Unfinished Business, David Love, a veteran economic and financial observer, explores the stor of Keating's revolution - a story that has never been fully told - and sounds a timely warning that the failure to finish the job Keating started has left our new-found prosperity vulnerable, particularly in the current climate of international economic uncertainty. The Keating revolution, it turns out, is at least as relevant to the future as it has been to the past.

An Australian refugee memoir

 

Mint condition. PB. 272pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

In 1978, following a dramatic escape from war torn Vietnam, Tracy Vo's parents boarded a leaky boat not knowing what their future held or whether they would live. The couple had fled Vietnam under the cover of darkness, exchanged wedding rings en route to Malaysia, then sold them and their scant possessions to feed themselves and their 10 relatives on the journey. They were declared refugees.

Now, almost 40 years later, their decision to flee Vietnam has been rewarded by a happy and successful life for their family in Australia, the country they are now proud to call home. Here, their daughter Tracy reflects on that life changing journey and the amazing life it created for them in Australia. Today, Tracy is a successful Channel 9 journalist who has chosen to return to her family home to care for her family as they enter old age. Her story shows the extraordinary bravery of her parents and the many refugees like them who now call Australia home.

The best travel writing on Nepal

 

Mint condition. HB. 512pp. $30 including postage anywhere in Australia

In April 2015, catastrophic earthquakes left Nepal devastated. Over 7,000 people lost their lives and more than twice as many were injured. Hundreds of thousands were made homeless and UNESCO World Heritage sites were destroyed.

HOUSE OF SNOW is the biggest, most comprehensive and most beautiful collection of writing about Nepal in print. It includes over 50 excerpts of fiction and non-fiction inspired by the breathtaking landscapes and rich cultural heritage of this fascinating country.

Here are explorers and mountaineers, poets and political journalists, national treasures and international stars such as Michael Palin and Jon Krakauer, Laxmi Prasad Devkota and ManjushreeThapa – all hand-picked by well-known authors and scholars of Nepali literature including Samrat Upadhyay, Michael Hutt, Isabella Tree and Thomas Bell.

An authoritative account of the Dismissal of the Whitlam government

 

Mint condition. HB. 448pp. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Drawing on a range of new sources, some of which have never before been made public - including hundreds of pages from Kerr's archives - this remarkable account is dispassionate in its analysis, vivid in its narrative and brutal in its conclusions. It exposes the true motivations, the extent of the deceit and the scale of the collusion.

Forty years on, the dismissal remains one of the most damaging and controversial events in Australian politics.

This groundbreaking book by two of our leading journalists provides a startling reinterpretation of events. It tells the story of the clash between extraordinary personalities- two political giants - Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser - and an ambitious and calculating governor-general, Sir John Kerr.

Drawing on a range of new sources, some of which have never before been made public - including hundreds of pages from Kerr's archives - this remarkable account is dispassionate in its analysis, vivid in its narrative and brutal in its conclusions. It exposes the true motivations, the extent of the deceit and the scale of the collusion.

Injecting humour into home duties

 

Very good condition. PB. 224pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

In Home Truths, comedian and author Mandy Nolan explores the significance of place in relationship to self, specifically what it is about home that is so intrinsic to our sense of self and what is says about our place in the world and our emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing. This is a book about who we are in the place where we live, and why; It's about who we are when no-one is watching, when the doors are closed and the pants come off.

Queen Victoria and her Indian tutor

 

Mint condition. PB. 368pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Now a major motion picture starring Dame Judi Dench, Ali Fazal and Eddie Izzard, directed by Stephen Frears. 

'A tale of Empire and intrigue brought vividly back to life' - VIKAS SWARUP, author of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE 

The tall, handsome Abdul Karim was just twenty-four years old when he arrived in England from Agra to wait at tables during Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. An assistant clerk at Agra Central Jail, he suddenly found himself a personal attendant to the Empress of India herself. Within a year, he was established as a powerful figure at court, becoming the queen's teacher, or Munshi, and instructing her in Urdu and Indian affairs. Devastated by the death of John Brown, her Scottish ghillie, the queen had at last found his replacement. But her intense and controversial relationship with the Munshi led to a near-revolt in the royal household. 

Now a major motion picture starring Dame Judi Dench, Victoria & Abdul examines how a young Indian Muslim came to play a central role at the heart of the empire, and tells a tender love story between an ordinary Indian and his elderly queen. 

AUTHOR: Shrabani Basu is an author, journalist and historian. She has also written Curry: the Story of the Nation's Favourite Dish (2003) and Spy Princess: the Life of Noor Inayat Khan (2006). She is based in London. 31 b/w illustrations

The definitive biography of David Bowie

 

Mint condition. HB. 496pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

The 10th January, 2016 will no doubt resonate with David Bowie fans across the globe from now on. The world was shocked to wake to the sudden news of his death from cancer, which he had been secretly battling for eighteen months. The outpouring of grief, empathy and loss has been palpable, honest and raw. And he had only turned sixty-nine.

Respected arts commentator Paul Morley, one of the team who curated the highly successful retrospective exhibition for the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, David Bowie Is . . . constructs the definitive story of Bowie that explores how he worked, played, aged, structured his ideas, invented the future and entered history as someone who could and would never be forgotten. Morley will capture the greatest moments of Bowie’s career; from the recording studio with the likes of Brian Eno and Tony Visconti; to iconic live performances from the 1970s, 80s and 90s, as well as the various encounters and artistic relationships he developed with rock luminaries John Lennon, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop. And of course, discuss in detail his much-heralded, and critically-acclaimed comeback with the release of Black Star just days before his shocking death in New York.

Morley will offer a startling biographical critique of David Bowie’s legacy, showing how he never stayed still even when he withdrew from the spotlight, how he always knew his own worth, and released a dazzling plethora of mobile Bowies into the world with a bloody-minded determination and a voluptuous imagination to create something amazing that was not there before.

About the Author

Writer, broadcaster, and cultural critic Paul Morley has written about music, art, and entertainment since the 1970s. A founding member of the electronic collective Art of Noise and a member of staff at the Royal Academy of Music, he is the author of Ask: Chatter of Pop; Words and Music: A History of Pop in the Shape of a City; Piece by Piece: Writing About Joy Division 1977–2007; Earthbound; The North; and Nothing, and he collaborated with music icon Grace Jones on her memoir, I’ll Never Write My Memoirs.

Jewish humour at its finest

 

PB. Very good condition. 310 pages. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Two rival businessmen meet in the Warsaw train station. "Where are you going" says the first man.

"To Minsk," says the second.

"To Minsk, eh What a nerve you have! I know you're telling me you're going to Minsk because you want me to think that you're really going to Pinsk. But it so happens that I know you really are going to Minsk. So why are you lying to me"

Four men are walking in the desert.

The German says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have a beer."

The Italian says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have wine."

The Mexican says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have tequila."

The Jew says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have diabetes."

SOLD A comprehensive study of the Indian diaspora

 

SOLD to a lawyer in East Sydney, NSW

Mint condition. HB. 416pp. $100 including postage anywhere in Australia.

The Encyclopedia of the Indian Diaspora Book Description Brij V Lal has contributed to The Encyclopedia of the Indian Diaspora as an editor.Brij V. Lal is professor of Pacific and Asian history at the Australian National University.

About the author:

Brij V. Lal AM, FAHA is an Indo-Fijian historian. He was born in Labasa, on the northern island of Vanua Levu. He was educated at the University of the South Pacific, the University of British Columbia and the Australian National University. A harsh critic of the Bainimarama government, which originated in the military coup of 2006 and retained power in the 2014 elections, he is currently living in exile in Australia.

"I am currently working on a large scale project about Australia's engagement with the South Pacific from the 1940s to the 1980s, focusing on the Solomon Islands, Fiji and Vanuatu. My research on Fiji continues with a historical dictionary and a general interpretative volume for the University of Hawaii currently in preparation, along with a series of essays on the politics and culture of the Indian indentured diaspora. On the side, I continue to wrestle with the problems of writing about societies with unwritten pasts."