Political Biographies

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “At a time when the meaning of America is up for grabs, Cody Keenan’s new book chronicles ten days that tested us and ultimately showed us at our best. It’s a captivating story about what’s worth fighting for, an antidote to cynicism that will make you believe again.”—President Barack Obama, via Twitter From Barack Obama’s...

The True Story Behind the Events on 9/11 that Inspired Broadway's Smash Hit Musical Come from Away, Featuring All New Material from the Author When 38 jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land at Gander International Airport in Canada by the closing of U.S. airspace on September 11, the population of this small town on Newfoundland Island...

Bob Woodward's second global bestseller on the Trump presidency, based on in-depth research and interviews with the president. Woodward, the No 1 international bestselling author of Fear: Trump in the White House, has uncovered the precise moment the president was warned that the Covid-19 epidemic would be the biggest national security threat to his presidency. In dramatic detail, Woodward takes...

Now a docuseries from Ken Burns on PBS! The #1 New York Times bestseller from Walter Isaacson brings Leonardo da Vinci to life in this exciting new biography that is “a study in creativity: how to define it, how to achieve it…Most important, it is a powerful story of an exhilarating mind and life” (The New Yorker). Based on thousands...

A riveting, deeply personal account of history in the making—from the president who inspired us to believe in the power of democracy. In the stirring, highly anticipated first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from a young man searching for his identity to a leader of the free world. He describes in...

A masterful new translation of Suetonius' renowned biographies of the twelve Caesars, by the award-winning historian and The Rest Is History podcaster Tom Holland. The ancient Roman empire was the supreme arena, where emperors had no choice but to fight, to thrill, to dazzle. To rule as a Caesar was to stand as an actor upon the great stage of...

A Lady in Kyoto by Sei Shonagon is one of 90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin Books. All moonlight is moving, wherever it may be... Japanese gentlewoman Sei Shonagon invites us to look behind the painted screens in the Emperor's palace and discover a lost world, where games of poetry are the highest form of wit. Lovers send...

A Daily Mail Best History Book of the Year; A Spectator Best Book of the Year It is generally accepted that Queen Victoria reigned but did not rule. This couldn’t be more wrong. In Queen Victoria and Her Prime Ministers, Anne Somerset masterfully traces Victoria’s political evolution, from headstrong teenager to seasoned octogenarian. This book demonstrates her passionate involvement in...

A Times Best Book on the Royal Family of the Year 2022 This is a biography of the Queen Mother with all the dull bits stripped out. When told that Lady Mountbatten was being buried at sea, the Queen Mother replied cheerfully. ‘Dear old Edwina, she always did like to make a splash!’ During her lifetime, the Queen Mother was...

Thomas Cromwell's life has made gripping reading for millions through Hilary Mantel's bestselling novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. But who was the real Cromwell? In this major new biography, leading historian Tracy Borman examines the life, loves, and legacy of the man who changed the shape of England forever. Born a lowly tavern keeper's son, Cromwell rose...

Tamati Te Ito Ngamoke, a renowned Taranaki prophet, played a significant role in colonial New Zealand's political landscape. While some, including most settlers and officials, viewed him as an 'imposter', a 'wizard', a 'fanatic'; others, including major Taranaki tribal leaders, revered him as a prophetic tohunga matakite known as 'Te Kai-ngarara' - The Reptile Eater. Today, overshadowed by religious leaders...

For me, Yukio was quite special. Prime Ministers sought his counsel, valued his advice, and were often guided by his views and suggestions. — Richard L. Armitage As one of the most distinguished and gifted Japanese diplomats of his generation, Yukio Okamoto navigated the corridors of power at the highest levels. In Japan and the United States, Okamoto recounts the...

The compulsively readable new book from The Rest is Classified host Gordon Corera. About how one man – Vasili Mitrokhin – turned first disaffected dissident and then traitor to the KGB, stealing the most secret Soviet archives and smuggling them to the West. How do you steal a library? Not just any library, but the most secret, heavily guarded archive...

A mistake is an error of judgement, a blunder is a mistake caused by carelessness or ignorance, implying incompetence. Blunders are not always the result of incompetence; a chess player may give a critical piece away being distracted by noise, but in war it results in death with serious repercussions. This book explores such errors during the Second World War,...

'You don't get to be my age without navigating all kinds of transitions. Some you anticipated and some you never expected. Some you embraced and some you resisted. Some you hoped for and some you fought as hard as you could.' - Melinda French Gates During times of transition, we step out of our familiar surroundings and into a new...

At 0900 on Sunday 01 July, my CO handed me three letters to read. The first was from the Governor General, the second from the Prime Minister, and the third was from the Minister of Defence. These letters informed me that I had been awarded the Victoria Cross for New Zealand (V.C.). Cpl Bill (Willie) Apiata, V.C. Corporal Willie Apiata...

When Kim Barker first arrived in Kabul as a journalist in 2002, she had only recently acquired a passport, spoke only English, and had little idea how to do the Taliban Shuffle between Afghanistan and Pakistan. No matter how compelling, her stories about Islamic militants and shaky reconstruction were soon overshadowed by the bigger news in Iraq. But as she...

A short, urgent book that sorts the fact from the fiction about Xi Jinping - one of the world's most powerful political leaders - to truly understand how he came to power, his hold on China and why we should care. Meet the most powerful leader in the world. Chinese premier Xi Jinping graces our television screens and news headlines...

Winner of the 2020 National Biography Award and the 2020 NSW Premier's Non-Fiction Award. The oddly compelling story of a man regarded as Australia's worst prime minister. Tiberius with a Telephone is the biography of William McMahon, a significant, if widely derided and disliked, figure in Australian politics in the second half of the twentieth century. This book tells the...

A historical detective story and a gripping account of one historian's hunt for answers as he delves into the surprising life of an ordinary Nazi officer. The gripping account of one historian's hunt for answers as he delves into the surprising life of an ordinary Nazi officer. Totally exhilarating Philippe Sands It began with an armchair. It began with the...

Alan Turing saved millions of lives. But Bletchley Park wasn't the only major code-breaking operation during World War II. Down under, there was Central Bureau. Central Bureau - Australia's own large and sophisticated intelligence network, built from scratch. It was this group of mathematicians, code-breakers, and radio experts who intercepted the travel plans of the architect of the Pearl Harbor...

The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela charts the rise and fall—and rise, again—of one of South Africa’s most controversial political figures. ‘Ma Winnie’ fought apartheid with uncommon ferocity, but her implication in kidnapping, torture and killings—including the murder of 14-year-old Stompie Seipei—would later see her shunned. Sisonke Msimang argues that this complicated woman was not witch but warrior: that her violence,...

The engrossing real-life story of how Queen Victoria's favourite son, Prince Alfred, undertook the most ambitious royal tour, only for Australia's overwhelming joy of having the first royal on its shores jolted by his decadent behaviour, then shocked by an attempted assassination by a man trained as a priest. The British Empire's youngest and most distant outpost found itself at...

Crikey's Person of the Year. Son, father, soldier, lawyer, adventurer, crusader - the colourful and fascinating life story of David McBride. Son Of the renowned Sydney obstetrician, Dr William McBride, who raised the alarm on the anti-nausea drug thalidomide in the 1960s and was later struck off the medical register for falsifying research results in a bid to challenge the...

Few Australians realise that of the 62,000 Anzac soldiers who died in the Great War, over one-third are still listed as missing. With no marked graves, the only reminders of their sacrifice are the many names inscribed on ageing war memorials around the world. Scott Bennett deftly tells the story of such missing Anzacs through the personal experience of three...

The remarkable true story of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, his sacrifice in Auschwitz, and the two men in war-torn Japan whose lives he changed forever. The remarkable true story of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, and the two men in war-torn Japan whose lives he changed forever. On the 14th of August 1941, a Polish priest named Maximilian Maria Kolbe was murdered in...

Two thousand years of Japanese history, told through interconnected portraits of twenty fascinating individuals. Chris Harding's enormously enjoyable new book distils Japan's long, complex and fascinating history into the stories of twenty remarkable individuals. These vivid and entertaining portraits take the reader from the earliest written accounts of Japan right through to the life of the current empress, Masako. We...

The diaries of the last British Governor, five weeks on the Sunday Times best-seller list. In June 1992, Chris Patten went to Hong Kong as the last British governor. His mission was not to prepare it for independence, as with other British colonies over the decades, but to prepare it for handing back in 1997 to the Chinese, from whom...

The Enigmatic Mr Deakin by Judith Brett explores the life of Alfred Deakin—scholar, spiritualist, prime minister—who played a crucial role in the formation of modern Australia. In this first biography of Deakin in over fifty years, acclaimed political historian Judith Brett skillfully intertwines his public, private, and family lives. Brett uncovers the character behind the image of a dignified, bearded...

Part biography, part forensic jigsaw puzzle, part cold-case detective investigation, The Eagle in the Mirror is the astonishing untold story of an Australian-born intelligence officer accused by some espionage experts of being the traitor of the century—Charles Howard 'Dick' Ellis. The longest-serving spy for the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Ellis helped set up the Office of Strategic Services (OSS),...

A gripping, real-life thriller following the authors' attempt to uncover the truth about one of the world's most wanted men. Karl Lee, alias Li Fangwei, plays a key role in the secret struggle between the world powers, bypassing Western sanctions to supply dictators with the weapons they need to wipe out their neighbouring countries—or even to trigger a third world...

In honour of the 100th anniversary of George H. W. Bush's birth, this visually stunning chronicle features never-before-published photos and mementos celebrating the 41st President's vision of leadership as service to others—curated by the rich storytelling of Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Jon Meacham. In honour of the one hundredth anniversary of George H. W. Bush's birth, this visually stunning chronicle features...

This is Marina Mahathir's story, from her perspective and no one else's. It is, she hopes, the answer to the question: What is it like to be Dr M's daughter? When an apple falls, does it roll far or stay close to its tree? Is it an exact clone of all the other apples the tree produces, or something entirely...

A fascinating portrait of one of Australia's most influential women. Unputdownable ... If you're looking for an entertaining and informative insight into the rollercoaster ride of Australian politics over the last twenty-five years, as well as an inspiring read about one of our most powerful women, look no further. - Books+Publishing Elected to federal parliament aged just twenty-eight, Tanya Plibersek...

While voluntary cadet training was a feature of Australian and New Zealand schools during the mid-nineteenth century, a form of compulsory cadet training became the norm from 1910 through to the 1920s, in both government and non-government schools. In this respect, Australia was more British than the British, as there was no compulsory military training in the schools of Great...

From the outset, Caroline Lamb had a rebellious nature. From childhood, she grew increasingly troublesome, experimenting with sedatives like laudanum, and she had a special governess to control her. She also had a merciless wit and talent for mimicry. She spoke French and German fluently, knew Greek and Latin, and sketched impressive portraits. As the niece of Georgiana, Duchess of...

The definitive biography of Saladin. Saladin remains one of the most iconic figures of his age. As the man who united the Arabs and saved Islam from Christian crusaders in the 12th century, he is the Islamic world's preeminent hero. Ruthless in defence of his faith and brilliant in leadership, he also possessed qualities that won admiration from his Christian...

Described by the Honourable Kim Beazley AC as a beautifully written memoir, this is the rare and extraordinary story of an Australian submariner. From conducting top-secret missions to making Australian submarine history, Commodore Peter Scott depicts what it takes to be a Submariner. Over a decorated 34-year career, Commodore Scott served in 10 submarines, passed the most demanding military command...

A revelatory biography of Australia's longest-serving prime minister. Robert Menzies claimed the prime ministership in 1939 and led the nation during the early years of the war, but resigned two years later when he lost the confidence of his party. His political career seemed over, and yet he staged one of the great comebacks to forge a new political party...

If he had never become Prime Minister, Paul Keating's place in Australian history would still have been assured. He was the Treasurer who deregulated the economy; the weaver of Labor's modern story; its heavy weapon in the parliament. He was also the great enigma – a self-educated boy from Sydney's working class and a defining element of the head-kicking Labor...

The first account from a prisoner of war in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. A shocking, hugely powerful memoir by British-born Ukrainian marine Aiden Aslin, who spent six months in Russian captivity. Aiden Aslin joined the Ukrainian marines in 2018, compelled to defend his adopted homeland from the growing threat of Russian invasion. In February 2022, as Russia mounted a full-scale offensive,...

President-elect Joe Biden tells the story of his extraordinary life and career prior to his emergence as Barack Obama's beloved, influential vice president. "I remain captivated by the possibilities of politics and public service. In fact, I believe that my chosen profession is a noble calling." - Joe Biden Joe Biden has both witnessed and participated in a momentous epoch...

Ross McMullin's masterly work retrieves a significant Australian from undeserved obscurity. It also judiciously reassesses notable battles he influenced—including the Gallipoli Landing, Lone Pine, Fromelles, Polygon Wood, and Villers-Brettoneux—and illuminates numerous aspects of Australia's experiences during his lifetime, particularly the often-overlooked period of the aftermath to the Great War. Pompey Elliott was a remarkable Australian. During the Great War he...

Paul Robeson was an actor and performer, a champion athlete, a committed communist, a brilliant speaker, and a passionate activist for social justice in America, Europe, and Australia. Hailed as the most famous African American of his time, he sang with a voice that left audiences weeping, and, for a period, had the entire world at his feet—only to lose...

Full of hope and courage, the internationally bestselling memoir of a Dutch Jewish Resistance fighter who survived Ravensbrück concentration camp. Selma van de Perre was seventeen when the Second World War began. Until then, being Jewish in the Netherlands had been of no consequence. But by 1941, it was a matter of life or death. Several times, Selma avoided being...

Compelling and wholly absorbing... among the most remarkable Australians of his time, Bob Carr, Australian General Sir John Monash changed the way wars were fought and won. When the British and German High Commands of the First World War failed to gain ascendancy after four years of unprecedented human slaughter, Monash used innovative techniques and modern technology to plan and...

Meeting Churchill explores the life of Winston Churchill through the eyes of those who met him, celebrating the 150th anniversary of his birth. This insightful portrait delves beyond well-known political events, incorporating perspectives from various individuals who encountered him throughout his life. From Bletchley Park codebreakers to Hollywood stars, Harold Wilson to Gandhi, these lesser-known interactions reveal glimpses of the...

History comes to life with Peter FitzSimons in the story of Australia’s most famous polar explorer and the giants from the heroic age of polar exploration: Scott, Amundsen, and Shackleton. Sir Douglas Mawson, born in 1882 and knighted in 1914, remains Australia's greatest Antarctic explorer. On 2 December 1911, his Australasian Antarctic Expedition left Hobart to explore the virgin frozen...

The sensational second volume of Charles Moore's bestselling and definitive biography of Britain's first female Prime Minister. Margaret Thatcher was the longest-serving Prime Minister of the twentieth century and one of the most influential figures of the postwar era. Volume Two of Moore's acclaimed authorized biography covers the central, triumphal years of her premiership, from the Falklands to the 1987...

A remarkable Holocaust memoir about an unlikely friendship between a young girl and a stray cat, and survival against the odds. Alone in a forest with only a cat for company, this is the deeply moving true story of one little girl's remarkable survival in the shadow of the Holocaust. Twelve-year-old Mala Szorer has no choice but to give up...

A must-read biography of an enigmatic personality who helped shape early Melbourne. Madame Brussels, the most legendary brothel keeper in nineteenth-century Melbourne, is still remembered and celebrated today. But until now, little has been known about Caroline Hodgson, the woman behind the alter ego. Born in Prussia to a working-class family, Caroline arrived in Melbourne in 1871. Left alone when...

From the Hawke government to the UN, a life committed to change... Living Politics features a foreword by Dr Carmen Lawrence and offers an insightful look into the life of Margaret Reynolds, who served as a senator in the Australian Parliament for sixteen years and was Queensland's first female senator. Follow Margaret's extraordinary journey from an apolitical university student to...

Latitude is the epic true story of the first ever international scientific expedition to accurately discover the shape of the earth. By knowing the shape of our earth, we can create maps, survive the oceans, follow rivers, navigate the skies, and travel across the globe. This is the story of our world, of how we discovered what no one thought...

The first full biography of the great Sun King of France for twenty years and winner of the Franco-British Society Book Prize. Louis XIV dominated his age. He extended France's frontiers into the Netherlands and Germany, and established colonies overseas. The stupendous palace he built at Versailles became the envy of monarchs all over Europe. In his palaces, Louis encouraged...

Described as 'a huge and highly accessible contribution to Australian political history' (SMH), John Edwards' magisterial biography of our greatest Prime Minister concludes with the events that shaped our future: the nation at war, our new relationship with the United States, and Curtin's early death, just before victory. The first volume of John Curtin's War was recognized as 'a landmark...

A powerful and searing biography of Hitler and the poisonous ideas behind his actions. Adolf Hitler is one of the most studied men in history, and yet the most important things we think we know about him are wrong. As Brendan Simms' major new biography, Hitler shows, Hitler's main preoccupation was not, as widely believed, the threat of Bolshevism, but...

The third and final volume of the Sunday Times bestselling diaries of Sir Henry 'Chips' Channon. This third and final volume of the unexpurgated diaries of Sir Henry 'Chips' Channon begins as the Second World War is turning in the Allies' favour. It ends with Chips descending into poor health but still able to turn a pointed phrase about the...

Henrietta Maria by Leanda de Lisle is an important and entertaining revisionist biography of Henrietta Maria (1609-1699) by one of our most respected historians. This myth-busting biography provides a fresh perspective on Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, and retells the dramatic story of the civil war from her viewpoint. A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR SHORTLISTED FOR THE ELIZABETH...

A superb one-volume biography by the Number One New York Times bestselling biographer of JFK, explaining Roosevelt's career as an incomparable politician, deal-maker, and uniter. Franklin D. Roosevelt is a towering figure in twentieth-century history. A masterful politician who would win an unprecedented four presidential terms, initiate landmark reforms that changed the American industrial system and transformed an isolationist country...

The definitive biography of one of Britain's most iconic heroines, reissued for the 200th anniversary. Whether honoured and admired or criticised and ridiculed, Florence Nightingale has invariably been misrepresented and misunderstood. As the Lady with the Lamp, ministering to the wounded and dying of the Crimean War, she offers an enduring image of sentimental appeal and one that is permanently...

Elizabeth Macarthur's Letters by Kate Grenville is a captivating collection, serving as the inspiration for her bestselling, award-winning novel A Room Made of Leaves. These letters formed the foundation for Kate Grenville's acclaimed novel, A Room Made of Leaves. They inspired the depiction of her imagined Elizabeth Macarthur—shrewd, subtle, and passionate. Through these letters, we get a glimpse into the...

A groundbreaking portrait of an ordinary English gentlewoman who would go on to become one of Australia's most significant, if little known, historical figures. In 1788, a young gentlewoman raised in the vicarage of an English village married a handsome, haughty, and penniless army officer. In any Austen novel, that would be the end of the story, but for the...

From Sunday Times bestseller Caroline Moorehead comes a thrilling and immersive look at the life of Mussolini's favourite daughter and a heart-stopping account of the rise and fall of the fascist dream in Italy. Edda Mussolini is a thrilling biography of Benito Mussolini's favourite daughter, and a heart-stopping account of the unravelling of the Fascist dream in Italy. 'Engrossing... Moorehead...

Duterte Harry is the first biography of Rodrigo Duterte, the murderous, unpredictable President of the Philippines, whose war on drugs has seen thousands of people killed in cold blood. Rodrigo Duterte was elected President of the Philippines in 2016. In his first 18 months in office, 12,000 people were murdered on the streets, gunned down by police officers and vigilante...

In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has been killed in a car accident....

In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has been killed in a car accident....

The compelling, first-to-market story of the rise, fall and death of the Wagner Group's Yevgeny Prigozhin, and what this tells us about the chaotic new direction of late Putinism, by the acclaimed author of A Short History of Russia. 'Absolutely gripping, deeply authoritative, hugely important and lethally lurid' Simon Sebag Montefiore, Sunday Times bestselling author of The World- A Family...

He was the reforming leader who made Victoria a leader in social equality, the arts, and the environment. He and his government built the underground rail loop, decriminalised homosexuality, abolished capital punishment, and outlawed sexual discrimination in the workplace. He and his team ended the demolition of the inner suburbs, preserved the best of the state's buildings and landscapes, and...

He was the reformer who made Victoria a leader in social equality, the arts, and the environment. He and his government built the underground rail loop, decriminalised homosexuality, abolished capital punishment, and outlawed sexual discrimination in the workplace. Hamer and his team ended the demolition of the inner suburbs, preserved the best of the state's buildings and landscapes, and set...

A cartoon biography of Winston Churchill, featuring some of the greatest and wittiest portraits of the iconic British statesman from around the world. 'A welcome and important addition to this genre—especially given that it contains more than 300 cartoons, most of which have not been utilised in previously published books . . . With great skill Benson has created a...

I looked up the name in the phone book and rang the number. I tried to imagine the conversation that might ensue. 'Hello? I was wondering if you're the man who was recently at an auction and asked a woman named Bernadette if I was married and had children and was happy—and if you are, are you my real father?'...

A father presents as an English gentleman and war hero to his wife and subsequent children, who only catch up with the truth of his impoverished Welsh beginnings after his death. His daughter ponders this singular life in the context of a changing Britain in the 20th century. Major Bill Probert emerged from the Second World War a decorated war...

A major new biography from the internationally bestselling author of Wild Swans, Mao, and Empress Dowager Cixi—a gripping story of sisterhood, revolution, and betrayal, and three women who helped shape the course of modern Chinese history. SHORTLISTED FOR THE HWA NON-FICTION CROWN 2020 Meet the three women who helped shape the course of modern Chinese history; a gripping story of...

One woman's journey from Mao's China to the White House Ping Fu was born on the eve of China's Cultural Revolution; aged just eight she was taken from the arms of her loving family. She suffered appalling treatment and was denied an education. For ten years she lived in bleak dormitories, while protecting her younger sister from Mao's Red Guards....

A monumental journey through Baltic history and culture, in which we encounter well-known personalities and forgotten ones, and a disconcerting picture of Europe in the twentieth century. From 1999 to 2010, Jan Brokken explored life stories in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The result was his masterly Baltic Souls, available here for the first time in English. Brokken uncovered the stories...

The first popular biography of the great warlord, Attila the Hun. The name Attila the Hun has become a byword for barbarism, savagery, and violence. His is a truly household name, but what do we really know about the man himself, his position in history, and the world in which he lived? This riveting biography reveals the man behind the...

A rip-roaring swashbuckler about a forgotten 17th century English hero who, starting as a poor, piratical buccaneer, became a famed round-the-world explorer. William Dampier (1651-1715), was an English adventurer and pirate who preyed on ships on the Spanish Main. Poor and ill-educated and determined to make his fortune, he nonetheless had a passion for exploration and scientific research. Dampier was...

The beautifully illustrated fourth volume of Picasso's life—set in France and Spain during the Spanish Civil War and World War II—covers friendships with the surrealist painters; artistic inspiration around Guernica and the Minotaur; his muses Marie-Thérèse, Dora Maar, and Françoise Gilot; and much more. 'A masterpiece' Sunday Times 'Magisterial... thrilling' Guardian 'Terrifically enjoyable' Daily Telegraph The beautifully illustrated, long-awaited final...

Anthony Albanese has been at the heart of Labor politics in Australia for a decade. For the previous decade, he persistently worked to ensure that the Labor left was a vital part of all ALP activities. This is his story. The turbulent years of federal politics with a deeply personal dimension, this is the whole story of Anthony Albanese and...

SHE is essential for your bookshelf Stylist She: A Celebration of Renegade Women by Harriet Hall is the must-have book for women everywhere. Perfect for fans of Caitlin Moran, Lena Dunham, and Good Night Stories For Rebel Girls. SHE is a love letter to all the women who have thrown out the rulebook and threatened the status quo. It's a...