Palmer: The Parliamentary Years Raymond Richards Canterbury University Press, $45.00, ISBN 9781877257926 For Geoffrey Palmer, politics was a serious business. It was about legislating for a better society and demanded the serious-minded attention of elected politicians. This sense of…
Looking For Answers: A Life of Elsie Locke Maureen Birchfield Canterbury University Press, $69.95, ISBN 9781877257803 Writing a biography of someone with broad interests and a long and well-documented life is a real challenge. Lives are messy and sprawl without…
A Canoe in Midstream: Poems New and Old Apirana Taylor Canterbury University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9781877257797 This year I taught a class of bright year nine students an introductory unit on poetry based on Jewels in the Water, an anthology…
Kiwi Compañeros: New Zealand and the Spanish Civil War Mark Derby (ed) Canterbury University Press, $45.00, ISBN 9781877257711 For the great bulk of New Zealanders between 1936 and 1939 the Spanish Civil War was like any other civil war; it…
Sit There and Draw That! Helen Crabb (“Barc”): Artist and Teacher Patricia Fry Steele Roberts, $29.99, ISBN 9781877448546 Bill’s Story: A Portrait of W A Sutton Pat Unger Canterbury University Press, $39.99, ISBN 9781877257704 Painting Out the Past: The…
The Long Forgetting: Post-colonial Literary Culture in New Zealand Patrick Evans Canterbury University Press, $34.50, ISBN 9781877257698 Approximately halfway through Patrick Evans’ study comes a paragraph that, upon reflection, more or less sums up the way the book works. The…
Politics 101 Anna Smith Canterbury University Press, $29.95, ISBN 1877257419 The Sound of Butterflies Rachael King Black Swan, $27.99, ISBN 1869417941 Davey Darling Paul Shannon Penguin, $28.00, ISBN 0143020773 Weeping Waters Anne Maria Nicholson HarperCollins, $34.00, ISBN 1869506170 Four debut…
Revolution: The 1913 Great Strike in New Zealand Melanie Nolan (ed) Canterbury University Press in association with the Trade Union History Project, $34.95, ISBN 1877257400 The track record of revolutions is dismal. Failure, betrayal and despair almost assuredly await you.…
Black November: The 1918 Influenza Pandemic in New Zealand Geoffrey W Rice University of Canterbury Press, $39.95, ISBN 1877257354 Survive Bird Flu and Other Disasters Bronwen King Hazard Press, $14.99, ISBN 1877393185 This week’s papers contain news of progress in…