Inventing a Nation - Washington, Adams, Jefferson by Gore Vidal

$12.00 NZD

Category: America | Series: Icons of America Ser. | Reading Level: near fine

"Trust Gore Vidal to teach us things we never learned in school. In Inventing a Nation, his quick wit flickers over the canonical tale of our republic's founding, turning it into a dark and deliciously nuanced comedy of men, manners, and ideas."--Amanda Heller, Boston Globe (Sunday) "Entertaining and e nlightening. . . . A must for buffs of American civilization and its discontents."--Booklist Gore Vidal, one of the master stylists of American literature and one of the most acute observers of American life and history, turns his immense literary and historiographic talent to a portrait of the formidable trio of George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. In Inventing a Nation, Vidal transports the reader into the minds, the living rooms (and bedrooms), the convention halls, and the salons of Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and others. We come to know these men, through Vidal's splendid and percipient prose, in ways we have not up to now--their opinions of each other, their worries about money, their concerns about creating a viable democracy. Vidal brings them to life at the key moments of decision in the birthing of our nation. He also illuminates the force and weight of the documents they wrote, the speeches they delivered, and the institutions of government by which we still live. More than two centuries later, America is still largely governed by the ideas championed by this triumvirate. ...Show more

Erasmus - The Right to Heresy by Stefan Zweig

$16.00 NZD

Category: Religion | Reading Level: good-very good

Intentions by Oscar Wilde

$10.00 NZD

Category: Essays | Reading Level: good-very good

De Profundis by Oscar Wilde

$8.00 NZD

Category: Essays | Reading Level: good-very good

What Then Must We Do? by Leo Tolstoy

$6.00 NZD

Category: Essays | Series: The World's Classics 281 | Reading Level: good

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendel Holmes

$15.00 NZD

Category: Essays | Reading Level: very good

The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi

$10.00 NZD

Category: Essays | Series: Vintage International | Reading Level: very good

The author of The Periodic Table writes courageously and profoundly about the world of Nazi concentration camps in his last and possibly finest book.

Generation Of Swine - Tales of shame and degradation in the 80s by Hunter S Thompson

$10.00 NZD

Category: Essays | Series: Gonzo Papers 2 | Reading Level: good

A collection of his colums from the San Francisco Examiner 1985-7.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? and other concerns by Mindy Kaling

$12.00 NZD

Category: Humour | Reading Level: very good

Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck-impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentenc e "Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I'll shut up about it?" Perhaps you want to know what Mindy thinks makes a great best friend (someone who will fill your prescription in the middle of the night), or what makes a great guy (one who is aware of all elderly people in any room at any time and acts accordingly), or what is the perfect amount of fame (so famous you can never get convicted of murder in a court of law), or how to maintain a trim figure (you will not find that information in these pages). If so, you've come to the right book, mostly! In "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, "Mindy invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls. Mindy Kaling really is just a Girl Next Door--not so much literally anywhere in the continental United States, but definitely if you live in India or Sri Lanka. ...Show more

Fenua Imi - The Pacific in History and Imaginary by Martin Edmond

$12.00 NZD

Category: Pacific | Reading Level: very good

A description of the history of the Pacific Region and its people.

On Freedom - Four Songs of Care and Constraint by Maggie Nelson

$16.00 NZD

Category: Essays | Reading Level: very good

An expansive, exhilarating work of nonfiction on freedom, by one of the most significant writers of our day *A GUARDIAN 'BOOKS OF 2021' PICK* 'One of the most electrifying writers at work in America today, among the sharpest and most supple thinkers of her generation' - Olivia Laing So often deployed a s a jingoistic, even menacing rallying cry, or limited by a focus on passing moments of liberation, the rhetoric of freedom both rouses and repels. Does it remain key to our autonomy, justice, and well-being, or is freedom's long star turn coming to a close? Does a continued obsession with the term enliven and emancipate, or reflect a deepening nihilism (or both)? On Freedom examines such questions by tracing the concept's complexities in four distinct realms- art, sex, drugs, and climate. Drawing on a vast range of material, from critical theory to pop culture to the intimacies and plain exchanges of daily life, Nelson explores how we might think, experience, or talk about freedom in ways responsive to the conditions of our day. Her abiding interest lies in ongoing "practices of freedom" by which we negotiate our interrelation with-indeed, our inseparability from-others, with all the care and constraint that relation entails, while accepting difference and conflict as integral to our communion. For Nelson, thinking publicly through the knots in our culture-from recent art world debates to the turbulent legacies of sexual liberation, from the painful paradoxes of addiction to the lure of despair in the face of the climate crisis-is itself a practice of freedom, a means of forging fortitude, courage, and company. On Freedom is an invigorating, essential book for challenging times. ...Show more

Moranifesto by Caitlin Moran

$14.00 NZD

Category: Essays | Reading Level: very good

'I've lived through ten iOS upgrades on my Mac - and that's just something I use to muck about on Twitter. Surely capitalism is due an upgrade or two?' When Caitlin Moran sat down to choose her favourite pieces for her new book she realised that they all seemed to join up. Turns out, it's the same old p roblems and the same old ass-hats. Then she thought of the word 'Moranifesto', and she knew what she had to do...This is Caitlin's engaging and amusing rallying call for our times. Combining the best of her recent columns with lots of new writing unique to this book, Caitlin deals with topics as pressing and diverse as 1980s swearing, benefits, boarding schools, and why the internet is like a drunken toddler. And whilst never afraid to address the big issues of the day - such as Benedict Cumberbatch and duffel coats - Caitlin also makes a passionate effort to understand our 21st century society and presents us with her 'Moranifesto' for making the world a better place. The polite revolution starts here! Please. ...Show more