Peter Morath has photographed and written this book as a sequel to his previous one “Christchurch, A Nostalgic Tribute”. Two chapters are retrospective, showing Lyttelton scenes from the past and some of the heritage buildings lost in the earthquakes. The main part of this book is contemporary though. It is full of recent photographs. They show us Banks Peninsula’s wonderful mix of scenery, history, homes and holiday havens, farming, wildlife and conservation areas, outdoor pursuits and tourist activities.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 176

Dimensions: 286 x 245 mm

Publication Date: 30-10-2012

There has never been a better time to discover and cherish Canterbury’s historic houses. Seventy more treasures can be found in this book. They are survivors of threats both manmade and natural. Most stood strong during the Canterbury earthquakes. Others are now in need of repair. All deserve to have their story told and enjoyed.
This book is a beautifully illustrated account of 70 country houses located in Canterbury. Fine pen and ink drawings by renowned artist Rodney Wells are complemented by Vicky Heward’s text which is a wonderful insight into the people who have done much to shape the culture of our country.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 144

Dimensions: 270 x 214 mm

Publication Date: 30-10-2012

There has never been a better time to discover and cherish Canterbury’s historic houses. Seventy more treasures can be found in this book. They are survivors of threats both manmade and natural. Most stood strong during the Canterbury earthquakes. Others are now in need of repair. All deserve to have their story told and enjoyed.
This book is a beautifully illustrated account of 70 country houses located in Canterbury. Fine pen and ink drawings by renowned artist Rodney Wells are complemented by Vicky Heward’s text which is a wonderful insight into the people who have done much to shape the culture of our country.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 144

Dimensions: 270 x 214 mm

Publication Date: 30-10-2012

From Charlemagne to Churchill, and from Agincourt to Trafalgar, history is rich with rousing rhetoric, inspiring quotations and heroic speeches from the most celebrated military leaders. Whether applauding great victories or consoling troops in defeat, the words collected within this treasure trove provide a fascinating glimpse into the many unique experiences of war.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 192

Dimensions: 116 x 182 mm

Publication Date: 25-11-2012

Ripped Apart is Mayor Bob Parker’s personal story about the earthquakes that devastated Christchurch. Bob’s tireless and unflappable communications gained him superstar status around the world.
He so impressed the American TV network, NBC, it broadcast to the world that New York, after 9/11, had Rudy Giuliani. Christchurch, after the earthquakes, had Bob Parker.
A Christchurch mother said: “For eight days I lived in my house under a table with my children because we were so scared. The only thing that calmed us was Bob’s voice on the radio. We trusted him”.
Within a few months of his triumphs the tide turned. The Minister of Earthquake Recovery, Gerry Brownlee, dubbed him “a clown”; his council was dysfunctional; and Government, not the council, controlled the city’s rebuild.
Ripped Apart reveals the arguments, indecision, petty jealousies, power struggles and policies that occurred before, during, and after the crises. These are balanced with glimpses of dedication, courage, compassion and a unique vision. It is a story about people behind the scenes and events that saw Christchurch Ripped Apart, not just physically, but politically and emotionally.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 240

Dimensions: 152 x 229 mm

Publication Date: 01-02-1970

While researching nineteenth-century Christchurch newspapers for another book, historian Geoff Rice was struck by the diversity of crime in early Christchurch, and the amount of detail in the court reports. Fascinated by what he was reading, he became diverted from the task at hand and set about writing this book instead: about crime and punishment in the first 25 years of Canterbury settlement.
The stories are drawn from newspaper reports, with further detail added from police records and the court minute books. The events are contextualised by Professor Rice's extensive knowledge of the times. It is not an academic study; nor is it a work of fiction. Rather it is an attempt at evidence-based reconstruction of crimes and courtroom proceedings, opening a window on the lives and deeds of ordinary people who lived in this place over 140 years ago.
History is usually written by the winners, and it is rare to hear the voices of ordinary folk from the remote past. Yet such were the shorthand skills of 19th-century newspaper reporters that courtroom testimony and cross-examinations were often captured verbatim, especially in the more sensational murder trials. Reading these reports one can almost hear the voices of the past. We catch glimpses of cabbies, shopkeepers, clerks and housewives going about their daily work, with descriptions of homes or workplaces, and the occasional fight in a pub.
The stories are often dramatic and even sensational, sometimes horrifying, sometimes amusing, often rather sad. Their crimes mirror the difficult realities of colonial life.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 228

Dimensions: 152 x 228 mm

Publication Date: 15-10-2012

Bartolo Barnao first sailed into Wellington in 1902, aged 13, and began work in the fish trade. Eight years later he revisited Stromboli to marry the bride who had been chosen for him by the parish priest in his village. Bartolo and Giuseppa returned to New Zealand and raised their five children in Palmerston North and Wellington. In this fascinating book, Italian literary scholar Vincent Moleta traces the story of his grandparents’ childhood on Stromboli at the end of the 19th century; of Bartolo’s year as a cabin boy on a steam trawler sailing out of Napier; of his two years driving a cart of freshly caught fish through the night from Makara Beach to the fish market in Wellington; of the death in 1911 of the couple’s first child; of the family company set up by Bartolo and his brother Giuseppe, which came to dominate the fish trade in the central North Island. We learn of the enormous family rupture 1930 that saw Bartolo sell up and move to Wellington, settling in Island Bay and establishing, in the teeth of the Great Depression, Barnao’s Fish Market in Lambton Quay, which became a Wellington institution. Vincent Moleta paints a lively picture of life in Island Bay, New Zealand’s ‘Little Italy’, from 1900 to the 1960s: of the Catholic tennis club socials and the Fascist club meetings of the 1930s; of Italian weddings; of the New Zealand tour of the Italian grand opera company in 1949. He weaves these events and themes into a moving account of the family’s moments of joy and sorrow, taking their story up to 2004 and the death of his mother, Rosina Barnao Moleta. The book sheds light on a little-understood strand in New Zealand’s post-colonial history, and the rich culture the Æolian migrants brought with them

Pages: 304

Publication Date: 01-07-2012