Somewhere Becoming Rain: Collected Writings on Philip Larkin by Clive James

$27.99 NZD

Category: General Non-Fiction

Clive James is a life-long admirer of the work of Philip Larkin. Somewhere Becoming Rain gathers all of James's writing on this towering literary figure of the twentieth century, together with extra material now published for the first time.The greatness of Larkin's poetry continues to be obscured by th e opprobrium attaching to his personal life and his private opinions. James writes about Larkin's poems, his novels, his jazz and literary criticism; he also considers the two major biographies, Larkin's letters and even his portrayal on stage in order to chart the extreme and, he argues, largely misguided equivocations about Larkin's reputation in the years since his death.Through this joyous and perceptive book, Larkin's genius is delineated and celebrated. James argues that Larkin's poems, adored by discriminating readers for over half a century, could only have been the product of his reticent, diffident, flawed, and all-too-human personality.Erudite and entertaining in equal measure, Somewhere Becoming Rain is a love letter from one of the world's best living writers to one of its most cherished poets. ...Show more

The Air That We Breathe by Kara Douglas

$35.00 NZD

Category: General Non-Fiction

Grandmothers: Essays by 21st-Century Grandmothers by Helen Elliott

$40.00 NZD

Category: General Non-Fiction

An anthology of essays by twenty-four Australian women, edited by Helen Elliott, about the many aspects of being a grandmother in the 21st century. It seems so different from the experience we had of our grandmothers. Although perhaps the human essential, love, hasn't shifted much? In thoughtful, provok ing, uncompromising writing, a broad range of women reflect on vastly diverse experiences. This period of a woman's life, a continuation and culmination, is as defining as any other and the words 'grand' and 'mother' rearrange and realign themselves into bright focus. The contributors- Stephanie Alexander, Maggie Beer, Judith Brett, Jane Caro, Elizabeth Cheung, Cresside Collette, Ali Cobby Eckermann, Helen Garner, Anastasia Gonis, Glenda Guest, Katherine Hattam, Celestine Hitiura Vaite, Yvette Holt, Cheryl Kernot, Ramona Koval, Alison Lester, Joan London, Jenny Macklin, Auntie Daphnie Milward, Mona Mobarek, Carol Raye and Gillian Triggs. ...Show more

White Fragility - Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism by Robin DiAngelo

$28.00 NZD

Category: General Non-Fiction

Anger. Fear. Guilt. Denial. Silence. These are the ways in which ordinary white people react when it is pointed out to them that they have done or said something that has - unintentionally - caused racial offence or hurt. After, all, a racist is the worst thing a person can be, right? But these reacti ons only serve to silence people of colour, who cannot give honest feedback to 'liberal' white people lest they provoke a dangerous emotional reaction. Robin DiAngelo coined the term 'White Fragility' in 2011 to describe this process and is here to show us how it serves to uphold the system of white supremacy. Using knowledge and insight gained over decades of running racial awareness workshops and working on this idea as a Professor of Whiteness Studies, she shows us how we can start having more honest conversations, listen to each other better and react to feedback with grace and humility. It is not enough to simply hold abstract progressive views and condemn the obvious racists on social media - change starts with us all at a practical, granular level, and it is time for all white people to take responsibility for relinquishing their own racial supremacy. ...Show more

Billionaire at the Barricades by Laura Ingraham

$44.99 NZD

Category: General Non-Fiction

Rescue: Refugees and the Political Crisis of Our Time by David Miliband

$22.99 NZD

Category: General Non-Fiction | Series: Ted 2 Ser.

'A THOUGHTFUL, CAREFULLY ARGUED AND MORALLY PERSUASIVE CASE FOR DOING MORE' FINANCIAL TIMES  'PART CALL TO ARMS, PART COLLECTION OF STORIES (INCLUDING HIS OWN), IT IS A POWERFUL INVITATION TO CARE ABOUT REFUGEES, TO SEE THEM AS HUMANS, JUST LIKE YOU OR ME, WHO DESPERATELY NEED OUR HELP' RED We are in the midst of a global refugee crisis. Sixty five million people are fleeing for their lives. The choices are urgent, not just for them but for all of us. What can we possibly do to help?   With compassion and clarity, David Miliband shows why we should care and how we can make a difference. He takes us from war zones in the Middle East to the heart of Europe to explain the crisis and show what can be done, not just by governments with the power to change policy but by citizens with the urge to change lives. His innovative and practical call to action shows that the crisis need not overwhelm us.   Miliband says this is a fight to uphold the best of human nature in the face of rhetoric and policy that humour the worst. He defends the international order built by western leaders out of the ashes of the Second World War, but says now is the time for reform.  Describing his family story as the son of refugees, and drawing revealing lessons from his life in politics, David Miliband shows that if we fail refugees then we betray our own history, values and interests. The message is simple: rescue refugees and we rescue ourselves.     ...Show more

Garden Tools Wooden Handle Fork & Trowel

$19.99 NZD

Category: General Non-Fiction

Four Flashpoints - How Asia Goes to War by Brendan Taylor

$37.00 NZD

Category: General Non-Fiction

Asia is at a dangerous moment. China is rising fast. Young, reckless North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is engaging in territorial spats with the US president over nuclear missiles. Japan's nationalist government is remilitarising, throwing off the constitutional constraints imposed at the end of World W ar II. Washington is charting a different course, too- Donald Trump is the first US president to have contact with Taiwanese leaders since the 1970s, and also the first to edge his finger so firmly towards the nuclear button over North Korea. The doomsday clock has reached two minutes to midnight, as the possibility of global catastrophe looms ever closer. In this revelatory analysis, strategic expert Brendan Taylor examines the four Asian flashpoints that are most likely to erupt in sudden and violent conflict- the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, the South China Sea and the East China Sea. He argues that crisis can only be averted by understanding the dynamics of these global hotspots and the complex interrelations between them. Drawing on history, contemporary sources and in-depth reports to weave an analysis both pertinent and chilling, Taylor asks what the world's major powers can do to avoid an eruption of war -- and what role Australia, as both a force in this region and a historical ally of the United States, can play to change the course of this otherwise disastrous history. ...Show more

Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World by Naomi S. Baron

$40.99 NZD

Category: General Non-Fiction

People have been reading on computer screens for several decades now, predating popularization of personal computers and widespread use of the internet. But it was the rise of eReaders and tablets that caused digital reading to explode. In 2007, Amazon introduced its first Kindle. Three years later, App le debuted the iPad. Meanwhile, as mobile phone technology improved and smartphones proliferated, the phone became another vital reading platform. In Words Onscreen, Naomi Baron, an expert on language and technology, explores how technology is reshaping our understanding of what it means to read. Digital reading is increasingly popular. Reading onscreen has many virtues, including convenience, potential cost-savings, and the opportunity to bring free access to books and other written materials to people around the world. Yet, Baron argues, the virtues of eReading are matched with drawbacks. Users are easily distracted by other temptations on their devices, multitasking is rampant, and screens coax us to skim rather than read in-depth. What is more, if the way we read is changing, so is the way we write. In response to changing reading habits, many authors and publishers are producing shorter works and ones that don't require reflection or close reading. In her tour through the new world of eReading, Baron weights the value of reading physical print versus online text, including the question of what long-standing benefits of reading might be lost if we go overwhelmingly digital. She also probes how the internet is shifting reading from being a solitary experience to a social one, and the reasons why eReading has taken off in some countries, especially the United States and United Kingdom, but not others, like France and Japan. Reaching past the hype on both sides of the discussion, Baron draws upon her own cross-cultural studies to offer a clear-eyed and balanced analysis of the ways technology is affecting the ways we read today-and what the future might bring. ...Show more

Divided by Tim Marshall

$26.99 NZD

Category: General Non-Fiction

"Accomplished, well researched and pacey ... for anyone who wants to look beyond the headlines and explore the context of some of the biggest challenges facing the world today, it is fascinating" - City AM "One of the best books about geopolitics you could imagine" - Nicholas Lezard, Evening Standard, o n Prisoners of Geography Walls are going up. Nationalism and identity politics are on the rise once more. Thousands of miles of fences and barriers have been erected since the turn of the century, and they are redefining our political landscape. There are many reasons why walls go up, because we are divided in many ways: wealth, race, religion, politics. In Europe the divisions of the past decade threaten not only European unity, but in some countries liberal democracy itself. In China, the Party's need to contain the divisions wrought by capitalism will define the nation's future. In the USA the rationale for the Mexican border wall runs deeper than the need to control illegal immigration; it taps into the fear that the USA will no longer be a white majority country during the course of this century. Understanding what has divided us, past and present, is essential to understanding much of what's going on in the world today. In eight chapters covering China; the USA; Israel; the Middle East; India and Bangladesh; Africa; Europe and the UK, bestselling author Tim Marshall presents an unflinching and essential overview of the fault lines that will shape our world for years to come. ...Show more

Women, Oxford and Novels of Crime by Alison Hoddinott

$32.99 NZD

Category: General Non-Fiction

Alison Hoddinott writes about the history of crime fiction set in Oxford from the early decades of the 20th century to the present. Her emphasis is on novels written by women and the ways in which their fiction deals with both the mystery and its solution and with the situation of women within the unive rsity and in the wider community. ...Show more

18 Days: Al Jazeera English and the Egyptian Revolution by Scott Bridges

$29.99 NZD

Category: General Non-Fiction

This is the story of a plucky newsroom in the middle of an anonymous Middle Eastern desert city that through its coverage of one huge story changed the rules of 24-hour TV news. On February 11, 2011, President Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule of Egypt came to an end after 18 days of massive and unprece dented street protests. In the course of those few days, a 24-hour news channel unlike any other, Al Jazeera English, emerged in a crowded global news market as the source for reporting on the Egyptian Revolution. While established networks such as CNN and BBC World battled to provide comprehensive first-hand accounts of developments in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez, news consumers across the world found superior coverage on Al Jazeera English. The New York Times said AJE "provided more exhaustive coverage than anyone else"; The Atlantic argued, "It is no exaggeration to say that Al Jazeera has been the eyes and ears of [the Arab Spring]." 18 Days examines the Doha-based channel's coming of age and discovers how a network known to many in the West as "Terror TV" was transformed almost overnight into a trusted and indispensable source of news. Drawing on content analysis and interviews with key players inside the organisation, the book goes behind the cameras to tell stories of newsgathering ingenuity, hair-raising moments of danger, and internal tension. It examines the network's relationship with its Qatari benefactors and charges of editorial bias, along with the legacy of Egypt for Al Jazeera English as the brand expands its footprint into the United States. ...Show more