{"title":"Russell Shorto","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRussell Shorto\u003c\/strong\u003e offers richly detailed narratives that bring history to life, with a special focus on the intersections of people and place. His works like \u003cem\u003eAmsterdam\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Island at the Center of the World\u003c\/em\u003e explore the vibrant, often overlooked stories behind cities and their foundational moments.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can expect immersive, well-researched accounts that blend cultural history and political intrigue, illuminating the forces that shaped modern America and Europe. Shorto’s storytelling invites reflection on how history continues to influence our present.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"amsterdam-by-russell-shorto-9780349000022","title":"Amsterdam","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAmsterdam\u003c\/i\u003e is not just any city. Despite its relative size, it has stood alongside its larger cousins—Paris, London, Berlin—and has influenced the modern world to a degree that few other cities have. Sweeping across the city's colourful thousand-year history, \u003ci\u003eAmsterdam\u003c\/i\u003e will bring the place to life: its sights and smells; its politics and people.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFocusing on two significant periods—the late 1500s to the mid-1600s and then from the Second World War to the present—Russell Shorto's masterful biography examines Amsterdam's central preoccupations. Just as fin-de-siècle Vienna was the birthplace of psychoanalysis, seventeenth-century Amsterdam was the wellspring of liberalism, and today it remains a city that takes individual freedom very seriously.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA wonderfully evocative book that takes Amsterdam's dramatic past and present and populates it with a whole host of colourful characters, \u003ci\u003eAmsterdam\u003c\/i\u003e is the definitive book on this great city.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46848368574700,"sku":"9780349000022","price":29.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/6453743482312.jpg?v=1758974665"},{"product_id":"taking-manhattan-by-russell-shorto-9781800754966","title":"Taking Manhattan","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1664, England decided to invade the Dutch-controlled city of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. Charles II and his brother, the Duke of York, had dreams of empire, and their arch-rivals, the Dutch, were in the way. But Richard Nicolls, who led the English flotilla bent on destruction, changed his strategy once he began parleying with Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch leader on Manhattan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBristling with vibrant characters, \u003cem\u003eTaking Manhattan\u003c\/em\u003e reveals the founding of New York to be an invention: the result not of a violent English takeover, but of clever negotiations that led to the fusing of the multiethnic, capitalistic society the Dutch had pioneered to the power of the rising English empire. But the birth of what might be termed the first modern city is also a story of the brutal dispossession of Native Americans and of the roots of American slavery.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBased on newly translated sources, \u003cem\u003eTaking Manhattan\u003c\/em\u003e shows how the paradox of New York's origins—boundless opportunity coupled with subjugation and displacement—reflect America's promise and failure to this day.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46849980104940,"sku":"9781800754966","price":49.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/49f2a1fd7880898ca6a8678345840a9a.jpg?v=1759108002"},{"product_id":"the-island-at-the-center-of-the-world-by-russell-shorto-9780349140209","title":"The Island at the Center of the World","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the British wrested New Amsterdam from the Dutch in 1664, the truth about its thriving, polyglot society began to disappear into myths about an island purchased for 24 dollars and a cartoonish peg-legged governor. But the story of the Dutch colony of New Netherland was merely lost, not destroyed: 12,000 pages of its records—recently declared a national treasure—are now being translated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDrawing on this remarkable archive, Russell Shorto has created a gripping narrative—a story of global sweep centred on a wilderness called Manhattan—that transforms our understanding of early America.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Dutch colony pre-dated the \"original\" thirteen colonies, yet it seems strikingly familiar. Its capital was cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic, and its citizens valued free trade, individual rights, and religious freedom. Their champion was a progressive, young lawyer named Adriaen van der Donck, who emerges in these pages as a forgotten American patriot and whose political vision brought him into conflict with Peter Stuyvesant, the autocratic director of the Dutch colony.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe struggle between these two strong-willed men laid the foundation for New York City and helped shape American culture. \u003cem\u003eThe Island at the Center of the World\u003c\/em\u003e uncovers a lost world and offers a surprising new perspective on our own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Gardners Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46850261680364,"sku":"9780349140209","price":31.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/7855613482312.jpg?v=1759080560"},{"product_id":"smalltime-by-russell-shorto-9781324020172","title":"Smalltime","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBest-selling author Russell Shorto, praised for his incisive works of narrative history, never thought to write about his own past. He grew up knowing his grandfather and namesake was a small-town mob boss but maintained an unspoken family vow of silence. Then an elderly relative prodded: \u003cem\u003eYou're a writer—what are you gonna do about the story?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSmalltime\u003c\/em\u003e is a mob story straight out of central casting—but with a difference, for the small-town mob, which stretched from Schenectady to Fresno, is a mostly unknown world. The location is the brawny postwar factory town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The setting is City Cigar, a storefront next to City Hall, behind which Russ and his brother-in-law, \"Little Joe,\" operate a gambling empire and effectively run the town.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSmalltime\u003c\/em\u003e is a riveting American immigrant story that travels back to Risorgimento Sicily, to the ancient, dusty, hill-town home of Antonino Sciotto, the author's great-grandfather, who leaves his wife and children in grinding poverty for a new life—and wife—in a Pennsylvania mining town. It's a tale of Italian Americans living in squalor and prejudice, and of the rise of Russ, who, like thousands of other young men, created a copy of the American establishment that excluded him. \u003cem\u003eSmalltime\u003c\/em\u003e draws an intimate portrait of a mobster and his wife, sudden riches, and the toll a lawless life takes on one family.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut \u003cem\u003eSmalltime\u003c\/em\u003e is something more. The author enlists his ailing father—Tony, the mobster's son—as his partner in the search for their troubled patriarch. As secrets are revealed and Tony's health deteriorates, the book becomes an urgent and intimate exploration of three generations of the American immigrant experience. Moving, wryly funny, and richly detailed, \u003cem\u003eSmalltime\u003c\/em\u003e is an irresistible memoir by a masterful writer of historical narrative.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47000743346412,"sku":"9781324020172","price":33.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/10886113482659.jpg?v=1763301724"},{"product_id":"taking-manhattan-by-russell-shorto-9781800754980","title":"Taking Manhattan","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'An informative and thought-provoking history'\u003c\/em\u003e The Telegraph\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'A story rich in intrigue, diplomacy and personalities'\u003c\/em\u003e New Statesman\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'Offering new perspectives and ideas'\u003c\/em\u003e Guardian\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'Here is the whirligig of history, which Shorto captures vividly in this well-researched, well-written, sprightly book'\u003c\/em\u003e Literary Review\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA New Zealand Listener 100 Best Books of 2025\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1664, England decided to invade the Dutch-controlled city of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. Charles II and his brother, the Duke of York, had dreams of empire, and their arch-rivals, the Dutch, were in the way. But Richard Nicolls, who led the English flotilla bent on destruction, changed his strategy once he began parleying with Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch leader on Manhattan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBristling with vibrant characters, \u003cem\u003eTaking Manhattan\u003c\/em\u003e reveals the founding of New York to be an invention: the result not of a violent English takeover, but of clever negotiations that led to the fusing of the multiethnic, capitalistic society the Dutch had pioneered to the power of the rising English empire. But the birth of what might be termed the first modern city is also a story of the brutal dispossession of Native Americans and of the roots of American slavery.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBased on newly translated sources, \u003cem\u003eTaking Manhattan\u003c\/em\u003e shows how the paradox of New York's origins - boundless opportunity coupled with subjugation and displacement - reflect America's promise and failure to this day.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48318036082924,"sku":"9781800754980","price":32.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781800754980-taking-manhattan-1.jpg?v=1788751873"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/russell-shorto.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}