Blog Archives

Permolat and dogbox bivs, Hannah McGregor

Posted on August 31, 2015 by NZ Books

Tramping: A New Zealand History
Shaun Barnett and Chris Maclean
Craig Potton, $70.00,
ISBN 9781927213230

Tramping: A New Zealand History travels lightly through terrain which will feel familiar to many of its readers, the extended family of woollen-sock wearing, pack-hauling, bushwhackers. These people exist in sufficient numbers in this country to ensure this history will eventually become a collectors’ item. To obtain it, it will become necessary to tramp well into the back shelves of second-hand bookshops.

Tagged with: Chris Maclean, Craig Potton, Hannah McGregor, Issue 111, Shaun Barnett, Spring 2015
Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

Exploring the biographers, Tom Brooking

Posted on March 11, 2015 by NZ Books

Frank Worsley: Shackleton’s Fearless Captain
John Thomson
Craig Potton, $50.00
ISBN 9781927213124

Dumont d’Urville: Explorer and Polymath
Edward Duyker
Otago University Press, $70.00
ISBN 9781877578700

Here we have two very different approaches to writing about the history of European exploration: one concentrating on heroism and adventure and the other adopting a more nuanced and academic approach. Both books succeed as excellent examples of almost completely different genres and will appeal to a broad readership, especially to anyone interested in the history of exploration of the Pacific and Antarctica. Both come highly recommended as ideal autumn reading.

Tagged with: Autumn 2015, Craig Potton, Dumont d’Urville, Edward Duyker, Ernest Shackleton, Frank Worsley, Issue 109, John Thomson, Otago University Press, Tom Brooking
Posted in Biography, History, Non-fiction, Review

Room at the top, David Grant

Posted on December 5, 2013 by NZ Books

White-collar Radical: Dan Long and the Rise of White-collar Unions Mark Derby Craig Potton, $40.00, ISBN 9781877517174 Dan Long was an esteemed public servant and political and union activist from the late 1950s until his premature death…

Tagged with: Craig Potton, Dan Long, David Grant, Issue 104, Mark Derby, Summer 2013
Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review