There’s a distinctly political slant to the books mentioned in the Listener this week. Of local interest is Tom Newnham’s biography, aptly titled Interesting Times: A Kiwi Chronicle.

In a feature-length article, Geoff Chapple reveals why Newnham (pictured) is an important figure in our recent history:

Before there were desktop publishers, he was one. Before networking was ever defined, he was doing it. He became, it seemed, the secretary of everything, and his brick bungalow in Auckland's Dominion Rd became the headquarters of everything … Tom Newnham was to New Zealand's anti-Vietnam war, anti-nuclear and anti-apartheid years what Tom Paine was to the American Declaration of Independence – its letter-writer, pamphleteer, chronicler, analyst, activist and a strategist in what became a revolution.

Also reviewed in the Listener is Duende by Jason Webster. It’s a memoir-cum-travelogue of a young Englishman’s adventures in Spain, and Natasha Hay “devoured it with pleasure”:

You can't help but ride with him. He has a nose for drama – and eccentrics – and his diversions on his wild quest make for thrilling reading. His experiences are skilfully edited and shaped, with each chapter named after a paso or flamenco rhythm. The dramatised dialogue, complete with great characters, wry humour and narrative momentum, gives the book the feel of a gripping novel.

Elsewhere, Frank Nerney reports back on Mark Urban’s Rifles, a study of the 95th Regiment, also known as the Rifle Regiment, in the six years leading up to Waterloo. It’s something of a niche subject, but oddly interesting:

The Rifles were the army's first sharpshooters. They were trained to fire at the enemy from cover up to 400 metres away, aiming first for the officers, whose white, crossed belts made an appealing target. They helped to change the close-combat style of warfare to something more remote and precise – the evolution point for today's smart bombs and guided missiles.

Ivan Roger brings up the rear with a couple of pop culture tomes: The Bikeriders by Danny Lyon and Travelling With Che Guevera by Alberto Granado.

Danny Lyon's classic 1968 photodocument The Bikeriders is now reissued with extra black and white images and a swag of colour shots that had been lying forgotten in the Magnum archives for 30 years. The dustjacket namechecks Easy Rider, but the world depicted here is utterly different from the stoned California cool of Billy and Captain America. The drug is Budweiser, the bikes mostly Harley-Davidson, and the style is greaser – black leather, oily denims, tats and quiffs. For the girls, it's tights, black headscarves, leather biker caps. Not a fringed suede jacket in sight. They look astonishing, tearing down the freeways on their way to racetracks to get drunk and make trouble.

Travelling With Che Guevera is also a retrospective, but of perhaps more political significance:

It's 1952 and Alberto Granado and his young mate Ernesto Guevara, nicknamed Pelao ("Baldy"), set off from Cordoba, Argentina, on a single-cylinder Norton to see the (Latin American) world. Ernesto is a medical student, but Alberto, seven years his senior, has long since graduated and holds a responsible position. This is his account. Che wrote his own, which was published long after his violent death in Bolivia.

Che nicknamed "Baldy"? One learns something new every day.

NB: Tom Newnham’s Interesting Times costs $34 and is available from Graphic Publications, 514 Dominion Rd, Auckland 3.