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First published in 1954. With his trademark wit and inquisitive eye, H. V. Morton travels through a Spain unspoilt by tourism. Interspersed with episodes from Spain's rich history, this is a journey of discovery that would appeal to those with a sense of adventure and who appreciate a striking introduction to Spanish history and culture. "The stranger who wishes to approach Spain with sympathy and appreciation," H. V. Morton wrote, "must do so through its history." He takes the reader on a leisurely tour through a country where the past is very much alive, revealing a rich tapestry of events related with humor, charm, and sincerity. The Spain of the Christian kings and the caliphs of Córdoba, of Philip II, and the tragic Hapsburgs, the Spain of Columbus, of St Teresa, of Cortés and Pizarro, Velázquez, and Goya, is the thread of Morton's narrative. With colour and black and white illustrations. -
Peter Fitzsimon's account of growing up on the rural outskirts of Sydney in the 1960s is first and foremost a tribute to family. It's also a salute to times and generations past, when praise was understated and love unstinting; work was hard and values were clear; when people stood by each other in adversity. Days were for doing. Here is a childhood full of mischief, camaraderie, eccentric characters, drama, love, loss and billy-carts.
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Wells intended this volume to be straightforwardly, almost as a novel is read. It gives, in a most general way, an account of our present knowledge of history, shorn of elaborations and complications. Its special end is to meet the needs of the busy general reader who 'wishes to repair his faded or fragmentary conception of the great adventure of Mankind.' This edition was revised from the 1922 edition and prepared b y Professor G.P. Wells (H.G. Wells' son) and Raymond Postgate. Five new chapters have been added and the original maps are redrawn, with two new maps added. Cover: Detail from Prismes électriques by Sonia Delaunay. -
Sir Alec Guinness (1914 - 2000) makes his observations on Britain, taken from his journal at the tumultuous times of Princess Diana's death, the election of Tony Blair and comments on his quintessentially English country life with Mrs Guinness. A follow up to My Name Escapes Me, this volume covers 1996 - 1998. Sir Alec offers frank and surprising reflections on appearing in Star Wars and hilarious reminiscences of Humphrey Bogart and Noel Coward. -
The fascinating and true story of a 20th century bush legend. Known only from fleeting glimpses to the people of South Australia's Riverland region who gave him his name, the Possum deliberately turned his back on society to live almost entirely off the land as a recluse on the banks of the Murray River. It took Max Jones, country detective, almost thirty years to solve the mystery behind the man called Possum. From chance encounters, brief meetings and full scale conversations with the man himself - and from the testimony of others - the author pieced together Possum's extraordinary life story. Illustrated with photographs, sketches, newspaper articles and entries from the Possum's own diary. -
In 404 B.C., the Spartans demolished the famous Long Walls of Athens, signalling the complete victory of the city of Lycurgus and the subordination of all Greece to the Spartan interest. Yet within forty years, the pride of Sparta had been humbled, their glory gone for ever. Xenophon lived through this time; despite being Athenian he was intimate with some of the most influential people in Sparta, including King Agesilaus. Here is the on-the-spot documentation of the last years of the independent cities of Hellas, by someone who saw it all. Translated by Rex Warner. https://cosmiccauldronbooks.com.au/p/imperial-caesar-rex-warner/
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The author, director of the Mood Disorders Program at Tufts University Medical Center, draws from the careers and personal plights of such notable leaders as Lincoln, Churchill, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., JFK, and others from the past two centuries to build an argument that the very qualities that mark those with mood disorders - realism, empathy, resilience, and creativity - also make for the best leaders in times of crisis. By combining analysis of the historical evidence with the latest psychiatric research, Ghaemi demonstrates how he thinks these qualities have produced brilliant leadership under the toughest circumstances.individuals and society at large-however high the price for those who endure these illnesses. -
This first volume of Ruth Park’s autobiography is an account of her isolated childhood in the rainforests of New Zealand, her convent education which encouraged her love of words and writing and the bitter years of the Depression. She then entered the rough-and-tumble world of journalism and began a reluctant correspondence with a young Australian writer. In 1942, she moved to Sydney and married that writer, D’Arcy Niland. There she would write The Harp In The South, the first of her classic Australian novels. A Fence Around the Cuckoo is the story of one of Australia’s best storytellers and how she learnt her craft. Illustrated with black and white photographs. https://cosmiccauldronbooks.com.au/p/fishing-in-the-styx-ruth-park/ -
A unique study of Vietnam from prehistory to 1972 which places the Vietnam War and Western involvement in perspective. Geography and environment have had a profound effect on Vietnamese history - the Vietnamese have had to contend with the power of neighboring China, a coastline that facilitated French conquest and mountains that divide the Red River delta in the north from the Mekong River valley in the south. Also covered is the legendary origin of the Vietnamese and their emergence before the advent of Chinese influence in the 1st century B.C.; the forces that shaped the centralised Vietnamese state during the era of independence after the expulsion of the Chinese in A.D. 939; and the century of French exploitation, during which nationalist movements arose in the north and south.
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