{"title":"Matthew Restall","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMatthew Restall\u003c\/strong\u003e offers readers a captivating blend of history, biography, and cultural exploration. His works delve into significant figures and moments, revealing the complex interplay between personal stories and broader historical currents. Expect insightful narratives that shed new light on familiar names and events within arts and culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom detailed biographies to engaging histories, Restall’s books invite reflection on identity, legacy, and the forces shaping our past. His writing bridges academic research and accessible storytelling, making each title a compelling journey through time and human experience.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-nine-lives-of-christopher-columbus-by-matthew-restall-9781324086932","title":"The Nine Lives of Christopher Columbus","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChristopher Columbus was born Cristoforo Colombo, in the autumn of 1451 in the Mediterranean port city of Genoa, and he died in the Spanish city of Valladolid in May 1506, as don Cristóbal Colón. More than five centuries later, we are still arguing over his life and its significance. Millions if not billions of people have learned his name. Most have some sense of what he did, that it was momentous, a great achievement, an act of primacy. But was his achievement \"great\" because he \"discovered America\" and thus made possible the hemisphere's \"great\" nations? Or was it an apocalyptic catastrophe for tens of millions of Indigenous and African peoples?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eThe Nine Lives of Christopher Columbus\u003c\/em\u003e, acclaimed historian Matthew Restall, perhaps the leading scholar of the Spanish Empire, presents a new, authoritative biography of Columbus, while at the same time tracing his many afterlives down into our own time. He explores the mysteries, many of them manufactured, that colour our understanding of Columbus even in the twenty-first century—mysteries surrounding Columbus's name, nationality, place of birth, ancestry, education, religion, intellectual vision, moral fibre, sexual proclivities, and current resting place. He shows how Columbus became an iconic American hero in the nineteenth century, and how a parallel hero emerged in the form of the Italian American Columbus.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRestall takes us beyond polemic, sifting through the evidence across nations, languages, and five centuries to explore the many questions that make up what he calls \"Columbiana.\" He demonstrates that, far from a uniquely talented individual, Columbus was typical of the Iberian and northern Italian men of his day—a merchant mariner who became an explorer, slave-trader, and conquistador-settler. And Restall challenges the notion, deeply held to this day, that Columbus can be credited or blamed for all that happened after 1492.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhatever one's views of Columbus, Restall's book is the necessary, definitive account. It dispels the myths and gives us Columbus as he was. It shows how he has been distorted in the centuries since his death—and how we might come to understand him, and his legacies, anew.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46871561666796,"sku":"9781324086932","price":66.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/0c1705ca52571184446ca32e0f5afa9d.jpg?v=1759983835"},{"product_id":"elton-johns-blue-moves-by-matthew-restall-9781501355424","title":"Elton John's Blue Moves","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy 1976, Elton John was the best-selling recording artist and the highest-grossing touring act in the world. With seven #1 albums in a row and a reputation as a riveting piano-pounding performer, the former Reggie Dwight had gone with dazzling speed from the London suburbs to the pinnacles of rock stardom. His songs never left the charts, and his sold-out shows were packed with adoring fans.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThen he released \u003ci\u003eBlue Moves\u003c\/i\u003e, and it all came crashing down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWas the commercially disappointing and poorly reviewed double album to blame? Can one album shoot down a star? No, argues Matthew Restall; \u003ci\u003eBlue Moves\u003c\/i\u003e is a four-sided masterpiece, as fantastic as \u003ci\u003eCaptain Fantastic\u003c\/i\u003e, as colourful as \u003ci\u003eGoodbye Yellow Brick Road\u003c\/i\u003e, a showcase for the three elements—piano-playing troubadour, full orchestra, rock band—with which Elton John and his collaborators redirected the evolution of popular music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eInstead, both album and career were derailed by a perfect storm of circumstances: Elton’s decisions to stop touring and start his own label; the turbulent shifts of popular culture in the punk era; the minefield of attitudes toward celebrity and sexuality. The closer we get to \u003ci\u003eBlue Moves\u003c\/i\u003e, the better we understand the world into which it was born—and vice versa. Might that be true of all albums?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47460720541932,"sku":"9781501355424","price":21.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781501355424-elton-john-s-blue-moves.jpg?v=1774951962"},{"product_id":"the-nine-lives-of-christopher-columbus-by-matthew-restall-9781324134404","title":"The Nine Lives of Christopher Columbus","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChristopher Columbus was born Cristoforo Colombo, in the autumn of 1451 in the Mediterranean port city of Genoa, and he died in the Spanish city of Valladolid in May 1506, as don Cristóbal Colón. More than five centuries later, we are still arguing over his life and its significance. Millions, if not billions, of people have learned his name. Most have some sense of what he did, that it was momentous, a great achievement, an act of primacy. But was his achievement \u003cem\u003egreat\u003c\/em\u003e because he \"discovered America\" and thus made possible the hemisphere's \"great\" nations? Or was it an apocalyptic catastrophe for tens of millions of Indigenous and African peoples?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eThe Nine Lives of Christopher Columbus\u003c\/em\u003e, acclaimed historian Matthew Restall, perhaps the leading scholar of the Spanish Empire, presents a new, authoritative biography of Columbus, while at the same time tracing his many afterlives down into our own time. He explores the mysteries, many of them manufactured, that color our understanding of Columbus even in the twenty-first century—mysteries surrounding Columbus's name, nationality, place of birth, ancestry, education, religion, intellectual vision, moral fibre, sexual proclivities, and current resting place. He shows how Columbus became an iconic American hero in the nineteenth century, and how a parallel hero emerged in the form of the Italian American Columbus.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRestall takes us beyond polemic, sifting through the evidence across nations, languages, and five centuries to explore the many questions that make up what he calls \"Columbiana.\" He demonstrates that, far from a uniquely talented individual, Columbus was typical of the Iberian and northern Italian men of his day—a merchant mariner who became an explorer, slave-trader, and conquistador-settler. And Restall challenges the notion, deeply held to this day, that Columbus can be credited or blamed for all that happened after 1492.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhatever one's views of Columbus, Restall's book is the necessary, definitive account. It dispels the myths and gives us Columbus as he was. It shows how he has been distorted in the centuries since his death—and how we might come to understand him, and his legacies, anew.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67808130629868,"sku":"9781324134404","price":55.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781324134404-the-nine-lives-of-christopher-columbus-1.jpg?v=1792527479"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/matthew-restall.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}