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The liberal leftie who learned maths, Matthew Hooton

Incredible Luck
Don Brash
Troika, $35.00,
ISBN 9780473269081

The tradition, when a New Zealand political book is published, is for our small but self-absorbed political class to rush to the nearest bookshop – often Bennetts at 1 Bowen Street, now sadly closed – to check the index, read any bits pertaining to themselves, and put it back on the shelf. Compared with, say, Craig Potton Publishing, the publisher of Don Brash’s autobiography has been more commercially astute: Incredible Luck has no index. To find out if you’re in it, you’ll have to buy it and read it all the way through.

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Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review

Dressing Wellington’s radicals, David Grant

Sewing Freedom: Philip Josephs, Transnationalism and Early New Zealand Anarchism Jared Davidson AK Press, $15.00, ISBN 9781849351324 Philip Josephs was a Latvian-born Jewish tailor who escaped religious persecution in his home country. He emigrated firstly to Glasgow – the industrial

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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review

Refugees and New Zealand compassion, Verica Rupar

Refuge New Zealand: A Nation‘s Response to Refugees and Asylum Seekers Ann Beaglehole Otago University Press, $45.00, ISBN 9781877578502 Andris, Where are You? From Latvia to New Zealand: The Family Story of Andris Apse Ron Crosby Craig Potton Publishing, $40.00,

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Posted in Biography, History, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Sociology

Perseverance and poetry, Barry Gustafson

Reform: A Memoir Geoffrey Palmer Victoria University Press, $80.00, ISBN 9780864739056 Sir Geoffrey Palmer had a distinguished career as a law professor in both New Zealand and the United States and as deputy prime minister and then prime minister in

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Posted in Memoir, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review

Human rights and public fright, Anne Opie

The Quiet War on Asylum Tracey Barnett Bridget Williams Books, $5.00, ISBN 9781927131909 (EPUB), 9781927131916 (KINDLE), 9781927277983 (PDF) The Punitive Society: Falling Crime and Rising Imprisonment in New Zealand  John Pratt Bridget Williams Books, $5.00, ISBN 9781927277270 (EPUB), 9781927277287 (KINDLE),

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Posted in Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review

Compelling mental health, Charles Hornabrook

New Zealand’s Mental Health Act in Practice John Dawson and Kris Gledhill (eds) Victoria University Press, $50.00, ISBN 9780864739049 This book, released to coincide with the 21st birthday of the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act of 1992 (MHCAT

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Posted in Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review

The inequality divide, Tim Hazledine

Inequality: A New Zealand Crisis Max Rashbrooke (ed) Bridget Williams Books, $40.00, ISBN 9781927131510 Judgements of All Kinds: Economic Policy-Making in New Zealand 1945-1984  Jim McAloon Victoria University Press, $50.00, ISBN 9780864738974 Inequality: A New Zealand Crisis is more than

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Posted in Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review, Sociology

Singing in tune, David Round

Treaty of Waitangi Settlements Nicola R Wheen and Janine Hayward (eds) Bridget Williams Books with the New Zealand Law Foundation, $50.00, ISBN 9781927131381 This book contains a dozen essays on aspects of Treaty of Waitangi settlements. Three cover their context,

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Posted in History, Māori, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review

MMP here to stay, Barry Gustafson

Kicking the Tyres: The New Zealand General Election and Electoral Referendum of 2011 Jon Johansson and Stephen Levine (eds) Victoria University Press, $50.00, ISBN 9780864738349 Since 1987, New Zealand’s political scientists and journalists have recorded and analysed the country’s triennial

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Posted in Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review

Bending over backwards, Nicky Hager

Friendly Fire: Nuclear Politics and the Collapse of ANZUS, 1984-1987 Gerald Hensley Auckland University Press, $45.00, ISBN 9781869407414 Gerald Hensley is an intelligent man, a good researcher and a pleasing and witty writer. Friendly Fire is his third book, and

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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review
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