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."

The Churchill family

 

Excellent condition. PB. 640pp. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia

There never was a Churchill from John of Marlborough down who had either morals or principles', so said Gladstone. From the First Duke of Marlborough - soldier of genius, restless empire-builder and cuckolder of Charles II - onwards, the Churchills have been politicians, gamblers and profligates, heroes and womanisers.

The Churchills is a richly layered portrait of an extraordinary set of men and women - grandly ambitious, regularly impecunious, impulsive, arrogant and brave. And towering above the Churchill clan is the figure of Winston - his failures and his triumphs shown in a new and revealing context - ultimately our 'greatest Briton'.

A powerful memoir of an Indian boy adopted by an Australian couple

 

Mint condition. PB. 272pp. $15 including postage anywhere in Australia.

You can buy this book along with Latika Bourke's memoir. You will only pay $30 for both.

A moving and inspirational true story of survival and triumph against incredible odds, celebrating the importance of never letting go of what drives the human spirit – hope.

A true story of survival and triumph against incredible odds, now a major motion picture starring Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman and Rooney Mara.
When Saroo Brierley used Google Earth to find his long-lost home town half a world away, he made global headlines.

Saroo had become lost on a train in India at the age of five. Not knowing the name of his family or where he was from, he survived for weeks on the streets of Kolkata, before being taken into an orphanage and adopted by a couple in Australia.

Despite being happy in his new family, Saroo always wondered about his origins. He spent hours staring at the map of India on his bedroom wall. When he was a young man the advent of Google Earth led him to pore over satellite images of the country for landmarks he recognised. And one day, after years of searching, he miraculously found what he was looking for.

Then he set off on a journey to find his mother.

Lion: A Long Way Home is a moving and inspirational true story that celebrates the importance of never letting go of what drives the human spirit – hope.

'We urge you to step behind the headlines and have a read of this absorbing account ... With clear recollections and good old-fashioned storytelling, Saroo ... recalls the fear of being lost and the anguish of separation.' Weekly Review

'A remarkable story ... [Brierley] provides an informative and fascinating insight into how Third World families live with, and somehow survive, their poverty.' Saturday Age
'I literally could not put this book down ... [Saroo's] return journey will leave you weeping with joy and the strength of the human spirit.' Manly Daily

'A feel-good read about a remarkable journey.' Sun-Herald
'As well as the tale of his quest, he provides an informative and fascinating insight into how Third World families live with, and somehow survive, their poverty.' The Age

'An incredible story of how one boy survived and prevailed through extreme circumstances to change his fortunes.' femail.com.au

A comprehensive history of London

 

Mint condition. PB. 1,111 pp, $35 including postage anywhere in Australia

Amazon is selling this for $60.

The Romans built it, the Angles and Saxons invaded it, the Vikings ravaged it, the Normans conquered it. From its beginnings as a foreign outpost on the banks of the Thames in the first century to, in the twenty-first, the teeming metropolitan sprawl of an extraordinarily cosmopolitan world capital, London has been shaped by successive waves of migration into a marvelous polyglot of a city. The history of London may indeed be a history of printing, the theater, newspapers, museums, pleasure gardens, music halls, international finance, and the novel, but for Stephen Inwood it is a history of the people whose tastes, talents, philosophies, and pocketbooks have created it -- and sometimes threatened to destroy it.

Toward a genuinely environmentally conscious capitalism

 

Mint Condition. HB. 576pp. $50 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Amazon is selling this for $86.

This book is about innovation, solutions, competitiveness and profitability. It is also about building environmental integrity and sustainability now and for future generations. The Natural Advantage of Nations pulls together for the first time a vast literature to demonstrate the need for a new paradigm of sustainable development. The book brings together the work of more than 30 leading thinkers, and fresh evidence from around the globe, to show that the drive for an ecologically sustainable world need not be in conflict with economics and business practices. This book draws a bold vision for the future and tells us how to get there by building on the lessons of competitive advantage theory and the latest in sustainability, economics, innovation, business and governance theory and practise. This is top-drawer reading for business people, economists, engineers, consultants, policy-makers, researchers, students and indeed anyone working to create a better world.

The authors incorporate innovative technical, structural and social advances, and explore the role that governance can play in both leading and underpinning business and communities in the shift towards a sustainable future. Coupled with a companion website, this book builds on from the latest in the business case for sustainability and goes beyond it. This book shows how in a tripartite world where business government and civil society all have power, how each can best play their part and better work together to achieve win win outcomes. The result is nothing less than the most authoritative and comprehensive guide to building the new ecologically sustainable economy.

A moving memoir by a brilliant Australian journalist

 

PB Mint Condition. 416 pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia

'Life is not defined by the bad things that happen to us. It certainly isn't for me.'

Written for her young son so that he would know what had happened to his mother, Cynthia Banham's inspiring family memoir uncovers a true picture of what survival means:

'This book tells a story that I tried to write many times before, but couldn't. For a long time, it was too painful to tell. It is also one I hadn't known how to tell. It had to be more than a story about surviving a plane crash, a random event without intrinsic meaning.'

Unable till now to write her own story, Cynthia found that the lives of her Italian grandfather, Alfredo, and his intriguing older sister, Amelia, resonated with her own. Discovering their sacrifice, joy, fear and love, from Trieste to Germany and America, and finally to Australia, their stories mirror and illuminate Cynthia's own determination and courage in the face of overwhelming adversity.

From a remarkable writer, and told with unflinching honesty and compassion, A Certain Light speaks to the heart of what really matters in life.

From award-winning Australian novelist Peter Carey

 

HB. Mint condition. 269pp. $15 including postage anywhere in Australia.

When Catherine Gehrig, a museum conservator in London, falls into grief after her lover’s sudden death, her boss gives her a special project. She will bring back to “life” a nineteenth-century mechanical bird. As she begins to piece together the automaton, Catherine also uncovers the diaries of Henry Brandling, who, more than a hundred years prior, had commissioned the bird for his very ill son. Catherine finds resonance and comfort in Henry’s story, but it is the mechanical creature itself, in its uncanny imitation of life, that will link these two people across a century. Through the clockwork bird, Henry and Catherine will confront the mysteries of creation, the power of human invention, and the body’s astonishing chemistry of love and feeling.

SOLD Travels through the Hindu Kush mountains

 

SOLD

PB. 400pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

High up in the Hindu Kush, between the ancient pagan Kalash people and the new medievalists of the Taliban, a charismatic young Spaniard, Jordi Magraner, made his home, mastering the local languages and customs before meeting his death in the most mysterious way. In this magisterial book, Gabi Martinez sets off in Jordi's footsteps to the land of the giants in order to try to solve the riddle of this murder and of Jordi's life.

Jordi Magraner was a brilliant student of the natural world, whose lab was the ravine and the scarp and the tent. His observational investigations led him to places where the legendary barmanu had been sighted, and he began to develop a thesis about the life of the wild man. His passion for pursuit and discovery took him onto ever more perilous terrain in the Pakistani-Afghan borderlands. And, one by one, Jordi turned his back on the Europeans who sought to assist him, preferring instead to entrust his safety to an Afghan youth fleeing the Taliban, and to a wondrous working dog called Fjord.

Jordi sought other rewards, and followed a winding, rocky path, down which Gabi Martinez resourcefully tracks him on this enthralling journey of detection and adventure in the Himalayas - where the truth is never as clear and pristine as the majestic mountains and the fast-flowing streams.

The ultimate collection of jokes

 

PB. 555pp. Good condition. $15 including postage anywhere in Australia.

A Man Walks Into A Bar is a one-stop shop for anyone who likes to hear and tell jokes. The jokes are ordered thematically - wives, husbands, doctors, lawyers, the French, the Germans, jokes about nuns, jokes about monkeys, the lot. There are also regular panels which group jokes by type too - Essex girls, changing a lightbulb etc. Our material will turn you into the toast of your local pub or make you loathed in your own home - remember, it is all in the telling. From the sublimely erudite to stuff Frank Carson would turn down (the book has a 'world's worst jokes' section), this book can service you with every joke you'll ever need.

What do you call an eskimo chav?
Innuinnit

What did the zen student say at the hamburger stand?
Make me one with everything

What's Irish and lives in the garden?
Paddy O'Furniture

Pakistan - playing with fire?

 

HB. Mint condition. 352pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

 A volatile nation at the heart of major cultural, political, and religious conflicts in the world today, Pakistan commands our attention. Yet more than six decades after the country’s founding as a Muslim democracy, it continues to struggle over its basic identity, alliances, and direction. In Playing with Fire, acclaimed journalist Pamela Constable peels back layers of contradiction and confusion to reveal the true face of modern Pakistan.

In this richly reported and movingly written chronicle, Constable takes us on a panoramic tour of contemporary Pakistan, exploring the fears and frustrations, dreams and beliefs, that animate the lives of ordinary citizens in this nuclear-armed nation of 170 million. From the opulent, insular salons of the elite to the brick quarries where soot-covered workers sell their kidneys to get out of debt, this is a haunting portrait of a society riven by inequality and corruption, and increasingly divided by competing versions of Islam.

Beneath the façade of democracy in Pakistan, Constable reveals the formidable hold of its business, bureaucratic, and military elites—including the country’s powerful spy agency, the ISI. This is a society where the majority of the population feels powerless, and radical Islamist groups stoke popular resentment to recruit shock troops for global jihad. Writing with an uncommon ear for the nuances of this conflicted culture, Constable explores the extent to which faith permeates every level of Pakistani society—and the ambivalence many Muslims feel about the role it should play in the life of the nation.

Both an empathic and alarming look inside one of the world’s most violent and vexing countries, Playing with Fire is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand modern Pakistan and its momentous role on today’s global stage.

SOLD Travels through Laos

 

SOLD

RARE BOOK. HB. Mint condition. 284pp. Amazon is selling this book for $141. I'm selling it for $35.

Nestled between Vietnam to the east, Myanmar and China to the north, Thailand to the west and Cambodia to the south, Laos has long suffered from the depredations of its larger neighbors. But the biggest bully in its history was the United States which, starting in 1964, carried on a "secret war" against Laos. By the time of the ceasefire in February 1973, Laos had become the most heavily bombed nation in the history of the world.

When renowned travel writer Dervla Murphy went to Laos in 1997, she discovered a country that had only just opened its borders to the West. What she found was a country where the people-kind, gentle, welcoming-more than compensate for everything that can go wrong. But she also discovered that the persisting problems bequeathed by its recent past are tragic and other problems threaten its immediate future. A series of chance meetings left her with a profound sense of a beautiful country and a unique culture threatened-once again-by the extreme pressures of the modern world.

How the West woos Arab dictators

 

Mint condition. HB. 416pp. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.

In A Brutal Friendship, Said K. Aburish traces the true origins of the region's present turmoil to the manner in which corrupt Arab rulers have subordinated the welfare of their subjects to their cultivation of cozy relationships with the West. Using direct evidence from his unrivaled range of Arab sources, he describes how the West -- mostly the CIA -- sponsored Islamic fundamentalism in the 1950s and '60s in an effort to contain Nasser and thwart Soviet designs on the region, how American and British leaders have turned a blind eye to repressive governments when they suit their interests (and toppled them when they do not), and how it is these very machinations that set Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on his bloody road to power.

SOLD Travels through Muslim and Buddhist China

 

SOLD

Excellent condition. PB. 352pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

The early trade in silk was carried on against incredible odds by great caravans of merchants and animals traveling over some of the most inhospitable territory on Earth, including searing, waterless deserts and snowbound mountain passes. Beginning at the magnificent ancient Chinese city of Chang'an (Xi'an), the route took traders westward along the Hexi Corridor to the giant barrier of the Great Wall, then either north or south of the Taklamakan Desert to Kashgar before continuing on to India and Iran, or farther to the great cities of Constantinople, Damascus and Baghdad. For today's traveler, it is not only the weight of history that makes the Silk Road intriguing, but the incredible diversity of scenery and ethnic people along the way. This beautifully photographed and intelligent book is the authoritative guide to travel in the region.

Fully illustrated with maps.

David Marr's religious journey

 

Very good condition. PB. 319 pp. $18 including postage anywhere in Australia.

A prominent Australian journalist explores themes of religion, politics and sexuality. 

Priests and preachers have returned to haunt Australian politics. The mission is to get us all to heaven by banning drugs, chopping movies and turning the criminal law against sex. This book is about the politics of salvation - and the cruelty, comedy, and pain inflicted by the enemies of freedom and pleasure.

This is also a book of stories - of murder, and chicanery, suicide and savvy bishops, of the Methodist childhood of John Howard and the ruthless Christian warriors who fight the drugs war, of bizarre censorship and bigotry on the High Court, brawls behind the closed doors of elite church schools, the endless Crusade against sodomy and the devout life of Brian Harradine.

David Marr's aim is to make sense of what's happening as this country drifts back in time, by disentangling the theology from the politics.