Signing on at Greymouth's Elmer Lane depot in 1962, a young Ian Tibbles very quickly learnt the mysteries of "the dark shed". Graduating from labourer to cleaner and then fireman, his apprenticeship takes us on a journey about the West Coast in the 1960's, the golden age of steam. Starting on the wharf and local shunts on Wf's Ian moved onto the main lines, then populated with A, Ab, B, J, We and Ww class engines. Sharing his firing experiences, Ian recounts throughout the chapters what it was like "getting down the road" on the various lines and classes of engine. The vagaries of narrow grate engines through to the "modern" J class are all discussed. managing transfer to various depots on the Coast, Ian recounts his time on all the West Coast lines. The Grey Valley, Blackball branch, Ross line, relieving Reefton, the Tawhai saddle, Reefton to Westport, the Westport to Mokihinui coal railway, Conns Creek branch, Rewanui incline and of course blasting up to Otira on the J class, are all vividly recounted. Complementing the text is a lavish selection of black and white and colour images from the era. Without doubt, this is a book for lovers of NZR steam in the 60s. 163 b&w photos + 99 colour photos

Bind: hardback

Pages: 251

Publication Date: 10-04-2015

Dr Thomas Morland Hocken (1836–1910) arrived in Dunedin in 1862, aged 26. Throughout his busy life as a medical practitioner he amassed books, manuscripts, sketches, maps and photographs of early New Zealand. Much of his initial collecting focused on the early discovery narratives of James Cook; along with the writings of Rev. Samuel Marsden and his contemporaries; Edward Gibbon Wakefield and the New Zealand Company; and Māori, especially in the south. He gifted his collection to the University of Otago in 1910. Hocken was a contemporary of New Zealand’s other two notable early book collectors, Sir George Grey and Alexander Turnbull. In this magnificent piece of research, a companion volume to his Amassing Treasures for All Times: Sir George Grey, colonial bookman and collector, Donald Kerr examines Hocken’s collecting activities and his vital contribution to preserving the history of New Zealand’s early post-contact period.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 464

Dimensions: 155 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 20-05-2015

The Syrian Civil War experienced an entirely unexpected transformation during its first two years. It started as unrest and a series of mass demonstrations within the Syrian population in the context of wider protest movements in the Middle East and North Africa in 2011, known as the Arab Spring. Unlike events in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, where oppressive governments were toppled by the end of that year, the government of Syria deployed the full force of its military, its intelligence apparatus, and paramilitary groups, launching an unprecedented crackdown that resulted in the arrest, detention and killing of many thousands. Despite its brutality, this effort backfired: it provoked mass desertions of the Syrian military and then an armed uprising. The emerging insurgency was generally successful through 2012, although failing to capture Damascus, it secured more than half of Aleppo and Homs, the provincial capital of Raqqa, and nearly all of north-eastern and north-western Syria under its control. Although propped-up by economic and military support from the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation, the government of Syria was nearing the brink of collapse during the first half of 2013 when, prompted by Tehran, Hezbollah - a Shi'a Islamic militant group and political party from Lebanon - entered the conflict on its side. Soon after, Hezbollah was reinforced by significant contingents of Iranian-sponsored Shi'a from Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere, followed by volunteers from Iran, including crack units of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Meanwhile, already split along the lines of Syria's complex demography, much of the insurgency transformed from a secular and non-sectarian movement into proxies of various foreign powers, foremost Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but also Turkey and Kuwait. Furthermore, foreign Jihadists motivated by al-Qaida joined the fray, aiming to establish an Islamist state and clandestinely cooperating with the government, they fell upon the insurgency.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 96

Dimensions: 210 x 297 mm

Publication Date: 20-06-2022

Now with new cover design jacket. Victoria Square, that green and peaceful oasis in the centre of Christchurch, has a special claim to fame: it is the only city square in the world with a river running through it. And it has a rich and varied history, starting in 1850 when, as Christchurch's Market Place, it was the centre of commerce in the fledgling settlement. Before long it was home to little wooden shops, busy hotels and flourishing businesses, and to the city's law courts. Much later it was the site of the splendid town hall. There have been many changes over the years, by far the most drastic those that followed the major earthquakes of 2010 ad 2011. All the buildings on the square's eastern side, and most of those to the south, were demolished, along with the eye-catching tourist hotel that had occupied its north-west corner from 1988. Until the earthquakes Victoria Square was regarded as the most successful urban space in New Zealand, and even in Australasia, and that admired layout, dating from the 1980s, survives, though it may yet be modified as the city rebuilds. This lively and entertaining book, illustrated with 250 photographs, many never before published, is written by an author with a deep knowledge of and love for his city. It is a fascinating architectural survey of a unique civic space but, much more than that, it is the story of a place and its people, of protests and processions, of concerts and dances, of festivals and fights, of busy department stores, of hotels and tourists, of judges and courtrooms. Geoffrey Rice brings to life many of the stories and events connected with Victoria Square and the colourful personalities who have lived and worked there for over a century and a half.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 328

Dimensions: 210 x 260 mm

Publication Date: 20-11-2014

BESTSELLER The novel A Gallipoli Soldier’s Secret is the story of a New Zealand woman’s pilgrimage to Turkey to discover the truth about her great-grandfather’s fate - a Gallipoli soldier who never returned home. During her search she stumbles over dark secrets which have been hidden in a Turkish village for decades. They are so sensitive that disclosure threatens embarrassment for villagers and two old foes -New Zealand and Turkey.
Lyrically written, A Gallipoli Soldier’s Secret paints an informative picture of life in a Turkish village, Turkish culture and history, and the suffering and annihilation Turks endured in WWI. It follows the war through the stories of two soldiers – New Zealander Alistair John Taylor and Turk Ali Osman. Their lives converge with unexpected consequences.
A Gallipoli Soldier’s Secret is unique in that it provides a glimpse of the war from a Turkish perspective. It also vividly reveals village life and a journey of inner conflict and self-discovery.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 300

Dimensions: 135 x 216 x 40 mm

Publication Date: 10-02-2015

Canterbury has a rich tapestry of country homesteads - all with their own unique stories to tell. There is an interesting variety of architectural styles and interiors chosen for the homes. All the homesteads and the families who have occupied them during many decades, are a wonderful part of Canterbury's architectural, artistic, botanical and social history.

Pages: 163

Dimensions: 273 x 210 x 10 mm

Publication Date: 08-12-2014

This book tells the story of the case of George Gwaze, twice charged and twice acquitted of the rape and murder of his ten-year-old adopted niece, Charlene Makaza. When Charlene is found unconscious one morning, gasping for breath, with a high fever and lying in a pool of diarrhoea, her family rush her to the Christchurch 24-hour clinic. She is treated for overwhelming sepsis and transferred to hospital. Sadly her life cannot be saved and at 1.00am she dies. During the course of Charlene’s short illness the diagnosis shifts from infection to sexual assault and homicide, and her grieving family find themselves publicly engulfed in a criminal investigation. What unfolds next is a surreal set of events so improbable that they seem fictitious. Murder that Wasn’t meticulously explores the facts surrounding this case, based on scientific, medical and court records and individual interviews, to give a true account of this family’s extraordinary story

Bind: paperback

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 150 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 30-01-2015

From its earliest days in a cold, rented room in a former Christchurch warehouse, the Canterbury Workers' Educational Association has been a pioneering provider of adult education, enriching, and sometimes even transforming, the lives of thousands of men and women. Through its box and travelling library schemes, inspired by the charismatic James Shelley, it took adult education to nearly every nook and cranny of the Canterbury and Westland provinces from the 1920s, Its wider horizons programme revolutionised adult education for retired people from the 1970s. In The People's University, widely published historian Ian Dougherty tells the fascinating and important story of this resilient association over its first 100 years and of the enthusiastic and committed involvement of students, tutors, volunteers and staff.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 256

Dimensions: 215 x 250 mm

Publication Date: 10-03-2015

A memoir with a difference. Through much of Bob Brockie's long and colourful life - 80 plus years to date - he has kept a notebook and sketch pad beside him. In this charming book, Dr Robert Brockie remembers - with some help from his diaries - all the highlights. The people (particularly women), places, pioneering scientific work and five decades of political cartooning. There is a strong emphasis on the sketches, portraits, caricatures and cartoons that Brockie is renowned for, but his varied and impressive scientific career is not forgotten. Brockie's life has encompassed editing and illustrating at School Publications, design concepts for Te Papa, DSIR's ground-breaking Orongoronga Valley forest study, possum and hedgehog research, 40 years as National Business Review cartoonist, the writing of a number of books, and over 600 popular newspaper science columns.

Bind: paperback

Publication Date: 20-02-2015

The Middle East is a region steeped in history that has seen the rise and fall of great civilisations and empires over thousands of years. For certain periods of time it has known peace, but today it is engulfed in conflict - a blood-soaked battleground where nations and armed groups fight for control of land, people, and natural resources. But what are the root causes of the seemingly intractable problems and disputes fuelling wars that have cost hundreds of thousands of lives and produced millions of displaced citizens and homeless refugees? Who is really to blame for the region's descent into a nightmare scenario of killing and destruction? Is there any solution, and what are the implications for the countries beyond in Europe and North Africa? A Dangerous World addresses these questions by examining each of the countries playing a significant role in the geopolitical chess game that today's Middle East has become, and reveals in fascinating detail their present and likely future contribution to the events unfolding in this increasingly unstable meeting point between east and west.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 860

Dimensions: 153 x 235 mm

Publication Date: 30-10-2015