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Lies and damned lies, Gyles Beckford

Truthteller
Stephen Davis
Exisle Publishing, $30.00,
ISBN 9781925335897

“Aren’t we all investigative journalists?” my colleague asked, as we lamented the quality of the coffee at an early hour in the newsroom kitchen.
“We’d all like to think so,” I replied. “But some of us are more investigative than others, perhaps.”

It was one of those innocent, non-committal exchanges prompted by the question, “What are you up to?”

At the base of my colleague’s question, of course, was the presumption that all journalists ask questions, investigate, probe, take nothing for granted, look for the spin, the obfuscation, the smokescreens … the bullshit.

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Posted in Media, Non-fiction, Review

Boudicca does it for a jar of mead, David Hill

A Short History of Sheep in New Zealand Richard Wolfe Random House, $29.99, ISBN 1869418204 Instructions for New Zealanders Richard Wolfe Random House, $34.99, ISBN 1869418506 The Smell of Powder: A History of Duelling in New Zealand Donald Kerr Random

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

Standing up for it, Redmer Yska

God Defend New Zealand: A History of the National Anthem Ashley Heenan School of Music and University of Canterbury, $29.95, ISBN 0908718098 Hear Our Voices We Entreat: The Extraordinary Story of New Zealand’s National Anthems Max Cryer Exisle Publishing, $29.99,

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Posted in History, Music, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

We were just 17, if you know what I mean, Rosemary McLeod

Eight Days a Week: The Beatles’ Tour of New Zealand 1964  Graham Hutchins Exisle Publishing, $34.95, ISBN 0908988559 Big Smoke: New Zealand City People in the ’60s and ’70s  John Daley Random House, $39.95, ISBN 1869621085 Says Graham Hutchins, “Beatlemania

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Posted in History, Music, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

If it’s claggy, it must be Wellington, Kim Griggs

Auckland: The city in literature ed Witi Ihimaera Exisle Publishing, $34.95, ISBN 0908988362 Dunedin: The city in literature  ed Christine Johnston Exisle Publishing, $34.95, ISBN 0908988451 Christchurch: The city in literature ed Anna Rogers Exisle Publishing, $34.95, ISBN 0908988427 Wellington:

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Posted in Literature, Review

Prophesy and be damned! Alan Horsman

Anno Domini 2000 or Woman’s Destiny Julius Vogel (ed Roger Robinson) Exisle Publishing, $29.95, ISBN 0908988168 “There is no such thing as a load of old codswallop … the codswallop is always freshly made,” or at least it needs to

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Localising the global, George Griffiths

From Tamaki-makau-rau to Auckland R C J Stone Auckland University Press, $59.95, ISBN 1869402596 Rolling Thunder: the Spirit of Karekare Bob Harvey Exisle Publishing, $39.95, ISBN 0908988176 Remembering Godley: a Portrait of Canterbury’s Founder ed  Mark Stocker Hazard Press, $29.95,

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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review

The perils of proximity, Michael Laws

Helen: Portrait of a Prime Minister Brian Edwards Exisle Publishing, $44.95, ISBN 0908988206 Biography is a fraught art. If the subject is dead, then the Author is reliant upon a myriad of sources, often contradictory, to capture the essence of

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

What do you want to do that for? Brian Turner

Arawata Bill: The Story of Legendary Gold Prospector William James O’Leary lan Dougherty Exisle Publishing $24.95 ISBN 0 9088 07 9 Once, many many years ago, my grandmother (my dad’s mother), when hearing that I was going sailing offshore, said:

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Posted in Biography, History, Non-fiction, Review

A greatly enhanced guide, Andy Dennis

The Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand Barrie Heather and Hugh Robertson; illust Derek Onley Viking, $49.95, ISBN 0 670 86911 2 The Book of the Kea Philip Temple Hodder Moa Beckett, $29.95, ISBN 0 340 600039 Wake of

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Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
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