Blog Archives

The eyes had it, Brian Turner

Bruno Roger Booth Canterbury University Press, $29.95, ISBN 0 908812 83 3 Years ago, whenever Bruno Lawrence (born in 1941 in Brighton, England, as David Charles Gilbert Lawrence) appeared or was mentioned, I used to think, “I’ll bet he’s a

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Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review

The archaeology of childhood, Jack Lasenby

Desert Shorts Norman Bilbrough Canterbury University Press, $24.95, ISBN 0 908812 81 7 The first paragraphs of Norman Bilbrough’s title story catch the moment when the boy-child’s uncritical admiration of the parent turns to youthful embarrassment – so like and

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Short stories

Revision and revisionism, Philip Temple

Mr Explorer Douglas John Pascoe’s New Zealand classic revised by Graham Langton Canterbury University Press, $39.95, ISBN 0 908812 95 7 For bushmen, trampers and mountaineers, the exploits and writings of 19th century explorer Charlie Douglas have become folkloric. Enduring

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Posted in Biography, Non-fiction, Review

Sweetening the demon, Paul Goldsmith

Memories of Muldoon Bob Jones Canterbury University Press, $39.95, ISBN 0 908812 69 8 Prime ministerial careers usually end in failure: it occurs to few to leave when they are on top. Sir Robert Muldoon’s time as Prime Minister was brought

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Posted in Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review

About time we had some facts, Brian Easton

Children of the Poor: How poverty could destroy New Zealand’s future Mike Moore Canterbury University Press, $19:95, ISBN 0 908812 67 1 In 1980 the National cabinet withdrew the government subsidy to CORSO, nominally because it had produced a film

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Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

Miscellany: Short reviews, Dale Williams

Godwits Return, Margaret Clark (ed), Bridget Williams Books, $29.95 New Zealanders are a restless lot – the more job training we get, the more likely we are to pack up and swim in bigger ponds overseas. Sometimes we come back.

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Posted in Art, Natural History, Non-fiction, Pacific, Review, Sociology

Short history reviews, Dale Williams

Waiheke Island. A History Paul Monin, Dunmore Press, $34.95 Aucklanders are in love with the romantic idea of a sizeable, liveable island just 20 kilometres from their urban sprawl. But Waiheke’s wide range of natural resources have always been desired

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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review

Shedding light on an unknown place, Lauris Edmond

Maud and Amber, A New Zealand mother and daughter and the Women’s Cause, 1865 to 1981 Ruth Fry, Canterbury University Press, $29.95 Mihipeka: Time of Turmoil Mihi Edwards, Penguin, $24.95 For the past twenty years or so historians and biographers

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Posted in Autobiography, Biography, Non-fiction, Review
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