Our selection of books this month provides you with good food for thoughts. Beijing is a super city that’s modernising at great speed, and The last day of Beijing gives you a glimpse of what’s left of the old town. Fulfill your interests and check out the history of Thailand, the Ottoman Empire and Islam Civilization with three items on these topics. And if you are interested by the Easter Rising in Ireland, The Wolf freighter that was the terror of the seas during WW1, and books about Auckland history and Tongan society, check out this month’s History Recent Picks.

History is like time travel sometimes, you read through time as you turn the pages. Our selection this month brings you a travel guide in Elizabethan England where you get to know what it was like to live then. You can borrow a World history for dummies and a superb book compiling photographs submitted by Reuters photojournalists. You can read about the post-America world, the history of the infamous Guantanamo Bay prison, and the roaring twenties. And if you are interested in Pharaohs, women during WWI and ‘Para-Param’ local history, then check out this month’s History Recent Picks.

This month you can glimpse a facet of history that you have never seen before! Our selection deals with America’s First Ladies and their antiques and the history of French explorers in Sydney. Also featured is the peculiar story of the county Mayo librarian. Set in Ireland, this is the true story of a protestant woman whose appointment as a librarian in a predominantly catholic area caused a stir. Other items include the front pages of the New York times from 1851 till 2008 and Kiwi companeros or New Zealanders’ involvement in the Spanish civil war. And if you are interested by the true story of the men who perished in the Perfect Storm or the history of the Takaka Hill, check out our History Recent Picks.

When the Second World War stopped for most, it still carried on for others as a shadow war consisting in tracking, finding and abducting Nazi criminals of war. Such is the story told in Hunting Eichmann, a book relating the efforts made to bring “the architect of the Holocaust” to justice. Our selection this month includes books dealing with the Warsaw Ghetto archives, the battle of the River Plate, Afghanistan before terrorism, and the revolt of the gladiators led by Spartacus. You can also read about what daily life was like in Eastern Europe during the Cold War, what the Western Front was like during WWI, and what it is like to live in the occupied territories of Palestine. And if you are interested in the Tudors or Antiquity, check out this month’s History Recent Picks.

There are all sorts of clichés about the French, but what actually made them who they are? Read Children of the revolution: the French, 1799-1914 and discover how events from the fall of the Monarchy to World War I shaped this nation and its people. Our history selection offers other interesting items you can borrow. Get to know about the fall Ruin of the Roman Empire, Victorian slums, and how a small fleet put a definitive end to the slave-trade. Is more recent history your thing ? You can learn more about the Italian front during WWI, and you can read about Holocaust survivors’ stories or the peace process in Northern Ireland. And if you are interested in Europe and the Middle-East from 570 to 1215, the influence of the Bush dynasty, and a review of the twentieth century, check out this month History Recent Picks.

Not so long ago, the general belief was that the earth was flat and that the ocean was overflowing into nothingness. Atlantic Ocean : the illustrated history of the ocean that changed the world shows that this belief was proved wrong and that this ocean had a definitive impact on communications, trades and industries in the western world. Our selection this month includes an item about the friendship between two revolutionaries: Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, as well as a book about the Jewish resistance during the Second World War. A history of the enticing Babylon and the complex Iran, and an account of the 1966 Florence flood are presented also. And if you are interested in a photographic report of the American Civil War, a review of the military operations in Basra, and Cook’s explorations with HMB Endeavour, then check out this month’s History Recent Picks.

Delve into the past of Australia and learn about the conditions under which it was first colonised. Share the memories of a journalist reporting about the Troubles in Belfast. Find out about the making of the American West. Re-live the crusades in the Middle-East through letters, songs and other first-hand resources. Learn about the liberating experiences of the first black congressmen in post Civil War era America. Get to know Versailles and Sissinghurst like the back of your hand. And if you want to find out more about how England went Dutch, how the Third Reich went to war, and what awaits us in the XXIst century, check out this month’s History Recent Picks.

This month in history Gershwin and Eva Peron died, NZ adopted decimal currency and the Rainbow Warrior was bombed. Our July history page feature is on the formation of the U.S.S.R.

Our History recent picks for June include Juliet Nicolson’s well-reviewed book ‘The perfect summer : dancing into shadow : England in 1911′, an idyllic summer for the wealthy, but full of strikes and unrest among the poor. We also feature histories of the Arctic, un-grim Lancashire, and America’s participation in regime change.

This month’s History page features the United Nations. In world history for June, Orwell, Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe were born. On 15th June 1959, the Chinese gooseberry was renamed the Kiwi fruit.