This Is a Call: The Life and Times of Dave Grohl by Paul Brannigan

$19.99 AUD

Category: Biography

The biography of the extraordinary career of Dave Grohl, drummer of Nirvana, front man of the Foo Fighters, based on original and exclusive interviews ("A rich history"--New York Times Book Review)This Is a Call, the first in-depth, definitive biography of Dave Grohl, tells the epic story of a singular career that includes Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, and Them Crooked Vultures. Based on ten years of original, exclusive interviews with the man himself and conversations with a legion of musical associates like Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, DC punk legend Ian MacKaye, and Nevermind producer Butch Vig, this is Grohl's story. He speaks candidly and honestly about Kurt Cobain, the arguments that almost tore Nirvana apart, the feuds that threatened to derail the Foo Fighters's global success, and the dark days that almost caused him to quit music for good.Dave Grohl has emerged as one of the most recognizable and respected musicians in the world. He is the last true hero to emerge from the American underground. This Is a Call vividly recounts this incredible rock 'n' roll journey.   ...Show more

Come - A Memoir by Rita Therese

$32.99 AUD

Category: Biography

Two selves intertwine and it leaves you, in the dance room, making a decision that winged liner is just for work. Because you don't know which self you are looking at right now, which person you are. The song stops and you break out of your trance and ask if he'd like to extend... Rita is an escort, one of the best in Australia. It all began on a whim at 18, after she rang the number on a sign looking for nude models. Always the outsider, she quickly learns the sex industry is comprised of many other people just like her and she becomes immersed in this world: the drugs, the late nights, the glamour, being an outcast, the attention and validation from men. Mostly she thrives on how taboo her life has become. Following significant personal tragedy and trauma, the line between Rita's sex worker persona Gia and her real self begins to blur in a seemingly endless loop of grief, work, sex, love and heartbreak. In this achingly honest memoir, Rita learns that death and trauma do not always bring grand transformative experiences. Sometimes, in order to go forward, we have to write our own stories and choose to keep living. Unflinching, compelling and darkly funny, Come announces a fearless new talent in Australian writing. Rita Therese is a 25-year-old sex worker, artist and writer based in Melbourne, Australia. She entered the sex industry at age 18 and has worked as a stripper, in the porn industry and as an escort. She currently works as an escort under the alias Gia James. She has written for Frankie Magazine, Vice and Penthouse Australia, and wrote a monthly sex and dating column for Sneaky magazine. She had her first solo photographic exhibition "Gemini" in 2016 at Goodspace Gallery in Sydney. The exhibit played on the juxtaposition of light and dark, and was centered around themes of sexuality, kink, femininity and fantasy. She is also the author of 4 self published zines - Zero Vol. 1 + 2, Heartbreaker and Fantasy. The zines focus on short stories about her life as a sex worker and discuss relationships, love, grief, mental health and sex. She distributes the zines through her Instagram and website. Rita is currently undertaking her Bachelor of Philosophy and working towards a career as an academic, specialising in the field of Gender Studies with a focus on sex work. ...Show more

Top End Girl by Miranda Tapsell

$32.99 AUD

Category: Biography

'Ever since I was thirteen years old, all I wanted to do was perform. It was an unusual dream for a kid from the Northern Territory to have ... what I wanted for my life was a world away from what people knew and loved about the "Top End". Even though I've moved south to become an actor, the Territory h as never left me. It's the place I go to when I want to feel whole again.' From Kakadu to Cannes, Miranda Tapsell is one of Australia's favourite actors. A proud Larrikia woman, she built a stellar career on stage, and shot to fame in The Sapphires and then in Love Child and Doctor, Doctor. Growing up, Miranda often looked for faces like hers on our screens. There weren't many. And too often there was a negative narrative around Indigenous lives, and Aboriginal women especially. Now an award-winning actor, she decided to change things herself. Combining her love of romantic comedies with her love of Darwin, the Tiwi Islands and the Top End, Miranda wrote, produced and starred in the box office hit Top End Wedding. But who the hell co-writes, produces and acts in a film about a wedding in the same year they're having their own? Miranda Tapsell does! In this engaging and thought-provoking memoir, Top End Girl, Miranda shares the path she took to create a moving film about re-connection to family and culture at the same time as she was planning her own wedding. And, like all good story-tellers, she holds a mirror up to the society we live in to show the prejudice that too often surfaces. Miranda knows that the key to change is to understand and through the power of storytelling she is changing attitudes and expectations to unite us all. ...Show more

Almost Mental

$29.99 AUD

Category: Biography

The Nancy Pelosi Way - Advice on Success, Leadership, and Politics from America's Most Powerful Woman by Christine Pelosi

$39.99 AUD

Category: Biography | Series: Women in Power Ser.

The daughter of Speaker Pelosi takes a close look at how her mother became the most powerful female politician in America and the many important lessons that can be gleaned from her actions and dialogue along the way.

Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter by Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson

$32.99 AUD

Category: Biography

For the first time, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson opens up about his amazing comeback--from tragic personal loss to thriving businessman and cable's highest-paid executive--in this unique self-help guide, his first since his blockbuster New York Times bestseller The 50th Law. In his early twenties Curtis Ja ckson, known as 50 Cent rose to the heights of fame and power in the cutthroat music business. A decade ago the multi-platinum selling rap artist decided to pivot. His ability to adapt to change was demonstrated when he became the executive producer and star of Power, a high-octane, gripping crime drama centered around a drug kingpin's family. The series quickly became "appointment" television, leading to Jackson inking a four-year, $150 million contract with the Starz network--the most lucrative deal in premium cable history.   Now, in his most personal book, Jackson shakes up the self-help category with his unique, cutting-edge lessons and hard-earned advice on embracing change. Where The 50th Law tells readers "fear nothing and you shall succeed," Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter builds on this message, combining it with Jackson's street smarts and hard-learned corporate savvy to help readers successfully achieve their own comeback--and to learn to flow with the changes that disrupt their own lives.     ...Show more

Penny Wong: The Biography by Margaret Simons

$34.99 AUD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: 3 Biography

Senator Penny Wong is an extraordinary Australian politician. Resolute, self-possessed and a penetrating thinker on subjects from workplace relations to foreign affairs, she is admired by members of parliament and the public from across the political divide. In this first-ever biography of Penny Wong, a cclaimed journalist Margaret Simons traces her story- from her early life in Malaysia, to her student activism in Adelaide, to her time in the turbulent Rudd-Gillard-Rudd governments, to her leading role as a voice of reason and respect in the polarising campaign to legalise same-sex marriage. What emerges is a picture of a leader for modern Australia, a cool-headed, cautious yet charismatic figure of piercing intelligence and a personal history linking back to Australia's colonial settlers through to its multicultural present. Drawing on exclusive interviews with Penny Wong and her Labor colleagues, parliamentary opponents, close friends and family, this scintillating portrait of an Australian politician without precedence promises to be one of the most talked-about political biographies of the year. ...Show more

Commander in Cheat by Rick Reilly

$34.99 AUD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: very good

'This book is dedicated to the truth. It's still a thing.' Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump is a fascinating on-the-ground and behind-the-scenes survey of Donald Trump's ethics deficit on and off the golf course.Renowned sports writer Rick Reilly transports readers onto the greens with Presid ent Trump, revealing the absurd ways in which he lies about his feats, and what they can tell us about the way he leads off the course in the most important job in the world. 'Golf is like bicycle shorts. It reveals a lot about a man.' Reilly has been with Trump on the fairways, the greens and in the rough, he has seen how the President plays - and it's not pretty. Based on his personal experiences, and interviews with dozens of golf pros, amateurs, developers, partners, opponents, and even caddies who have first-hand involvement with Trump out on the course, Reilly takes a deep and often hilarious look at how Trump shamelessly cheats at golf, lies about it, sues over it, bullies with it, and profits from it. 'Somebody should point out that the way Trump does golf is sort of the way he does a presidency, which is to operate as though the rules are for other people.' From Trump's ridiculous claim to have won eighteen club championships, to his devious cheating tricks, to his tainted reputation as a golf course tycoon, Commander in Cheat tells you everything you need to know about the man. 'You could write a book about what Trump's golf reveals about him. Here it is.' ...Show more

Ayoade on Top by Richard Ayoade

$29.99 AUD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: 4 Non Fiction

At last, the definitive book about perhaps the best cabin crew dramedy ever filmed: View From the Top starring Gwyneth Paltrow.In Ayoade on Top, Richard Ayoade, perhaps one of the most "insubstantial" people of our age, takes us on a journey from Peckham to Paris by way of Nevada and other places we don 't care about. It's a journey deep within, in a way that's respectful and non-invasive; a journey for which we will all pay a heavy price, even if you've waited for the smaller paperback edition. Ayoade argues for the canonization of this brutal masterpiece, a film that celebrates capitalism in all its victimless glory; one we might imagine Donald Trump himself half-watching on his private jet's gold-plated flat screen while his other puffy eye scans the cabin for fresh, young prey. ...Show more

Maurice Blackburn: Champion of the People by David Day

$49.99 AUD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: 3 Biography

Maurice Blackburn brought into public life a rare character, complete indifference to personal consequences, an uncommon scholarship, great zeal for humanity, and a firm belief, which I am happy to share, that men are immeasurably more important than laws. - Robert Menzies Maurice Blackburn served the people who suffered injustice . . . He pleaded their cause, and he engaged in the study of how best he could serve them . . . He would allow nothing to turn him from what he considered to be the right, and however unpopular he might become, however discomforting his attitude might be to his colleagues, the divine monitor within him impelled him to stand for what in his soul he believed.- John Curtin After his father died when Maurice Blackburn was a child, he was brought up by a mother who was descended from Melbourne's gentry and was determined to raise him as a gentleman who would achieve greatness as a judge or a prime minister. However, Blackburn had humbler aims. With the support of his wife, he wanted instead 'to make life better for the ordinary men and women of the country'. He went on to do so, defending the rights of working people as a leading barrister in the courts and as a politician in the parliaments of Melbourne and Canberra, and became much loved and admired across the political spectrum. A socialist and internationalist all his life, who was twice expelled from the Labor Party for his principles, Blackburn became a leading opponent of conscription in both world wars, a supporter of rights for women, an advocate for peace, and a tireless campaigner for transforming Australia so that it served the interests of all its people. Part love story, part gripping political thriller, the poignant story of the much-lauded Maurice Blackburn exposes a time when influence-peddling was rife, when political possibilities seemed limitless, and when a man of principle could still make a big difference to the course of Australian politics. ...Show more

Means of Ascent by Robert A. Caro

$55.00 AUD

Category: Biography

'The greatest biography of our era ... Essential reading for those who want to comprehend power and politics' The Times Robert A. Caro's legendary, multi-award-winning biography of US President Lyndon Johnson is a uniquely riveting and revelatory account of power, political genius and the shaping of tw entieth-century America. In this second instalment we witness a momentous turning point in American politics- the tragic last stand of the old politics versus the new. Following Johnson through his service in the Second World War, it describes the foundation and the myths of his long-concealed fortune. The explosive heart of the book is Caro's revelation of the shocking true story of the fiercely contested 1948 senatorial election, which Johnson won with the the '87 votes that changed history'. ...Show more

Generation F: Why we Still Struggle with Sex and Power by Virginia Trioli

$24.99 AUD

Category: Biography

‘For me these Ormond College women were, and are, the first voices of the revolution that is #MeToo in Australia.’ Twenty-five years ago, Australia was in the grip of another debate about sex and power. The Master of Ormond College at the University of Melbourne had been acquitted of indecent assault after complaints by two female students. Helen Garner’s bestselling book about the case, The First Stone, polarised readers over whether the students had been right to take their allegations to the law. Was the feminist movement poisoning gender relations? In Generation F, the young award-winning journalist Virginia Trioli offered a vigorous, incisive and compelling argument for the ongoing need for feminism, while exploring her own bewilderment and anger. She described the real state of sexual harassment, violence, the workplace and the law in Australia: how most women just copped it, but those who felt able to confront it needed all the support they could get. Now – as women around the world speak up about how sexual harassment has destroyed their work, families and lives – Trioli revisits that cultural moment in a new foreword, and in a new afterword considers the situation women face today. Dismayingly, her original text is just as relevant, and her call to action just as powerful. ...Show more