VIVA BOOKS

The Desert and the Sea : 977 Days Captive on the Somali Pirate Coast by Michael Scott Moore

$29.99 AUD

Category: POLITICS & HISTORY

Michael Scott Moore, a journalist and the author of Sweetness and Blood, incorporates personal narrative and rigorous investigative journalism in this profound and revelatory memoir of his three-year captivity by Somali pirates—a riveting,thoughtful, and emotionally resonant exploration of foreign policy, religious extremism, and the costs of survival. In January 2012, having covered a Somali pirate trial in Hamburg for Spiegel Online International—and funded by a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting—Michael Scott Moore traveled to the Horn of Africa to write about piracy and ways to end it. In a terrible twist of fate, Moore himself was kidnapped and subsequently held captive by Somali pirates. Subjected to conditions that break even the strongest spirits—physical injury, starvation, isolation, terror—Moore’s survival is a testament to his indomitable strength of mind. In September 2014, after 977 days, he walked free when his ransom was put together by the help of several US and German institutions, friends, colleagues, and his strong-willed mother.  Yet Moore’s own struggle is only part of the story: The Desert and the Sea falls at the intersection of reportage, memoir, and history. Caught between Muslim pirates, the looming threat of Al-Shabaab, and the rise of ISIS, Moore observes the worlds that surrounded him—the economics and history of piracy; the effects of post-colonialism; the politics of hostage negotiation and ransom; while also conjuring the various faces of Islam—and places his ordeal in the context of the larger political and historical issues.            A sort of Catch-22 meets Black Hawk Down, The Desert and the Sea is written with dark humor, candor, and a journalist’s clinical distance and eye for detail. Moore offers an intimate and otherwise inaccessible view of life as we cannot fathom it, brilliantly weaving his own experience as a hostage with the social, economic, religious, and political factors creating it. The Desert and the Sea is wildly compelling and a book that will take its place next to titles like Den of Lions and Even Silence Has an End. ...Show more

Reflections of the Jetty

$22.99 AUD

Category: POLITICS & HISTORY

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

$24.99 AUD

Category: POLITICS & HISTORY

THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLER Fire gave us power. Farming made us hungry for more. Money gave us purpose. Science made us deadly. This is the thrilling account of our extraordinary history - from insignificant apes to rulers of the world. Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In just a fraction of that time, one species among countless others has conquered it: us. In this bold and provocative book, Yuval Noah Harari explores who we are, how we got here and where we're going. 'I would recommend Sapiens to anyone who's interested in the history and future of our species' Bill Gates ...Show more

Lost Perth by Richard Offen

$29.99 AUD

Category: POLITICS & HISTORY | Series: Lost Ser.

In 1901 Federation transformed Western Australia from an independent colony to a state of the Commonwealth of Australia, and Perth gained the status of capital city. Originally funded by agriculture, the discovery of gold gave it the finances to transform itself from a modest country town to a prosperou s commercial city with great civic buildings to match. But along the way, and in the rush for growth, many grand old buildings and Perth institutions have been swept aside. Taking the losses in chronological order, Richard Offen, author of Perth Then and Now, catalogues the beloved buildings and Perth institutions that time and progress have swept aside. Lost Perth includes: Josie's Cottage, First Government House, Padbury Building, Royal Perth Yacht Club, Regent Cinema, Mitchell Building, trams, steam trains, William Street Level Crossing, Esplanade Hotel, Emu Brewery, Dalkeith Hot Pool, Coolbaroo Club, the Christian Brothers School and the East Perth Gasometer. ...Show more

Pauline: In Her Own Words by Pauline Lee Hanson

$29.99 AUD

Category: POLITICS & HISTORY

Pauline: In Her Own Words tracks the seminal speeches and contributions of one Australia's most provocative political figures. The book comprises Pauline Hanson's speeches through the years as she takes back the leadership of One Nation, articulates the policy positions designed to voice concerns of a p ortion of Australia's population, and debates the hot issues of the day. It's all here. Same-sex marriage, struggling farmers and their banking woes, immigration, Islam, big companies and tax planning and the general fight for the little Aussie battler make an appearance. Is is the only reference that matters if you want to better understand the 'fish and chip shop lady' outside of the media spin cycle. ...Show more

The Destruction of Hillary Clinton by Susan Bordo

$29.99 AUD

Category: POLITICS & HISTORY

The result of the 2016 presidential election was widely thought to be a foregone conclusion: a historic victory for an extraordinarily well-qualified, experienced and admired candidate against an opponent seen as not just unelectable but unfit for office. As we know, it didn't work out like that. So how did Hillary Clinton lose? How did she come to be seen as a tool of the establishment, a chronic liar and a talentless politician? In this masterful narrative of the 2016 campaign year, Susan Bordo unpacks the right-wing assault on Clinton and her reputation, the way she provoked the suspicion and indifference of a younger generation, and the unprecedented influence of the media. Urgent, insightful, and engrossing, The Destruction of Hillary Clinton is an essential guide to understanding the most controversial presidential election in American history. ...Show more

The Bulldog Track - A Grandson's Story of an Ordinary Man's War and Survival on the Other Kokoda Trail by Peter Phelps

$32.99 AUD

Category: POLITICS & HISTORY

This is the story of Tom Phelps and the 'other Kokoda Track'. Seventy-five years later, Tom's grandson, award-winning actor and writer Peter Phelps, is sharing this inspiring tale of resilience and survival. March 1942: The world is at war. Too old to fight and with jobs scarce at home, Tom Phelps found work as a carpenter in the goldfields of the New Guinea Highlands. No one expected the Japanese to attack in the Pacific. But they did. Tom and his mates weren't going to hang around and wait to be killed. With escape routes bombed by the Japanese, their only option was to try to reach safety by foot, through some of the most rugged terrain on Earth - the Bulldog Track. Back home in Sydney, Rose Phelps, their son, George, and three daughters, Joy, Shirley and Ann, waited for news of Tom's fate. George watched the horrors of war unfold on newsreels knowing his dad was 'over there'. Travelling by foot, raft, canoe, schooner, train, luck and courage, Tom Phelps, half-starved and suffering malaria, would eventually make it home. His stories of New Guinea would lead his son and grandson to their own experiences with the country. The Bulldog Track is a grandson's story of an ordinary man's war. It is an incredible tale of survival and the indomitable Aussie spirit. ...Show more

Noodle Maker of Kalimpong: The Untold Story of the Dalai Lama and the Secret Struggle for Tibet by Gyalo Thondup

$35.99 AUD

Category: POLITICS & HISTORY

For over half a century, noodlemaker Gyalo Thondup has been a familiar figure in the Himalayan hill town of Kalimpong. But it was not until 2010 that the townsfolk discovered his true identity: Gyalo Thondup is none other than the older brother of the Dalai Lama and his special envoy, a trusted interloc utor between Tibet and foreign leaders from Chiang Kai-shek to Jawaharlal Nehru, Zhou Enlai to Deng Xiaoping. Indeed, only the Dalai Lama himself has played a more important role in the political history of modern, tragedy-ridden Tibet. Now, for the first time, Gyalo Thondup is prepared to tell his story. His remarkable account offers an intimate, personal look at the Dalai Lama and his immediate family, as well as an insider's view of the vicious and sometimes deadly struggles within the Potala Palace - the seat of power in Tibet. His is a story of the 'real' Tibet - a country that is secular as well as sacred, where the source of conflict is not just with China but between Tibetans themselves. Candid and insightful, this long-awaited account reveals Gyalo Thondup to have been a key figure in the great game played out by China, India, Russia and the United States over the strategically important Tibetan plateau. ...Show more

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari

$24.99 AUD

Category: POLITICS & HISTORY

THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLER Sapiens shows us where we came from. Homo Deus shows us where we're going. Yuval Noah Harari envisions a near future in which we face a new set of challenges. Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century and beyond - from o vercoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: how can we protect this fragile world from our own destructive power? And what does our future hold? 'Homo Deus will shock you. It will entertain you. It will make you think in ways you had not thought before' Daniel Kahneman ...Show more

Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia by David Vine

$37.99 AUD

Category: POLITICS & HISTORY

The American military base on the island of Diego Garcia is one of the most strategically important and secretive U.S. military installations outside the United States. Located near the remote center of the Indian Ocean and accessible only by military transport, the little-known base has been instrument al in American military operations from the Cold War to the war on terror and may house a top-secret CIA prison where terror suspects are interrogated and tortured. But Diego Garcia harbors another dirty secret, one that has been kept from most of the world--until now. Island of Shame is the first major book to reveal the shocking truth of how the United States conspired with Britain to forcibly expel Diego Garcia's indigenous people--the Chagossians--and deport them to slums in Mauritius and the Seychelles, where most live in dire poverty to this day. Drawing on interviews with Washington insiders, military strategists, and exiled islanders, as well as hundreds of declassified documents, David Vine exposes the secret history of Diego Garcia. He chronicles the Chagossians' dramatic, unfolding story as they struggle to survive in exile and fight to return to their homeland. Tracing U.S. foreign policy from the Cold War to the war on terror, Vine shows how the United States has forged a new and pervasive kind of empire that is quietly dominating the planet with hundreds of overseas military bases. Island of Shame is an unforgettable expos of the human costs of empire and a must-read for anyone concerned about U.S. foreign policy and its consequences. The author will donate all royalties from the sale of this book to the Chagossians. ...Show more

10 Years That Shook the World: A Timeline of Events from 2001 by Loretta Napoleoni

$5.00 AUD

Category: POLITICS & HISTORY

From 9/11 to the launch of the iPod, from the creation of 'Gmail' to the 2004 tsunami, from the Enron bankruptcy to the killing of Osama bin Laden, 10 Years That Shook the World is the story of an extraordinary decade. For each year, Loretta Napoleoni presents events not as a chronology but as dispatche s from the world's collective memory. Topics like politics, economics, celebrities, and the environment intersect and converge to reveal the accelerating pace of globalisation and the changes that have affected us all. "And in the flickering of news that has passed before our eyes over the years, [10 Years That Shook the World] traces a different and deeper understanding of events than the black and white." -- Lars Linder, Dahens Nyheter (Sweden) ...Show more

Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward

$45.00 AUD

Category: POLITICS & HISTORY

THE INSIDE STORY ON PRESIDENT TRUMP, AS ONLY BOB WOODWARD CAN TELL IT   With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies from Nixon to Obama, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump's White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents. The focus is on the explosive debates and the decision-making in the Oval Office, the Situation Room, Air Force One and the White House residence.   Fear is the most intimate portrait of a sitting president ever published during the president's first years in office. ...Show more