Blog Archives

Pressing on, James Hollings 

Lasting Impressions: The Story of New Zealand’s Newspapers, 1840–1920
Ian F Grant
Fraser Books, in association with the Alexander Turnbull Library, $69.50,
ISBN 9780994136046

At a time when journalism is in crisis, with collapsing revenues and governments and elites indifferent to and even resentful of its role in a healthy democracy, there is much to learn from this landmark addition to New Zealand’s journalism historiography.

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Posted in Media, Non-fiction, Review

At a crossroads, Max Harris

Unquiet Time: Aotearoa/New Zealand in a Fast-changing World Colin James Fraser Books, $39.50, ISBN 9780994136015 Last year, Colin James published his final weekly column with the Otago Daily Times, after over 50 years of work as a journalist. In a

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Posted in Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

Undesirables and worthies, John O’Leary

The Girl Who Stole Stockings: The True Story of Susannah Noon and the Women of the Convict Ship Friends Elsbeth Hardie Australian Teachers of Media, $40.00, ISBN 9781876467241 May Your Shadow Never Grow Less: The Life and Times of Henry

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Posted in Biography, History, Non-fiction, Review

State-of-the-education-nation, Elizabeth Crayford

The Rhetoric and the Reality: New Zealand Schools and Schooling in the 21st Century David Hood Fraser Books, $39.50, ISBN 9780992247638 David Hood has written a thorough, detailed and impassioned plea for major changes to our education system. He calls

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Posted in Education, Non-fiction, Review

The thinking man’s cartoonist, Dylan Horrocks

Brockie: A Memoir in Words, Cartoons and Sketches
Bob Brockie
New Zealand Cartoon Archive/Fraser Books, $39.50
ISBN 9780958232074

David Lange called Brockie “the thinking man’s cartoonist”. Which is pretty nice of Lange, considering that Brockie had drawn him on various occasions being pissed on by a giant bulldog, with his head cut off, naked and (very frequently) in drag. Mind you, Lange was far from alone. Robert Muldoon, Jim Bolger, Colin Meads, Kim Dotcom and even Keith Holyoake have all, at various times, been stripped and humiliated by Brockie’s pen, which has been scratching away at public reputations for more than 50 years.

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

Teacup warriors, Les Cleveland

Fernleaf Cairo: New Zealanders at Maadi Camp Alex Hedley (with Megan Hutching) HarperCollins, $36.39, ISBN 9781869507718 Grey Ghosts: New Zealand Vietnam Vets Talk About their War Deborah Challinor HarperCollins, $36.99, ISBN 9781869507718 Things Have Been Pretty Lively: The Great War

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Posted in Autobiography, Biography, History, Non-fiction, Review, War

Coming of age for Kiwi baddies, Bernard Carpinter

The Cleaner Paul Cleave Black Swan, $29.95, ISBN 9781869417604 The Killing Hour Paul Cleave Black Swan, $27.99, ISBN 9781869418663 Overkill Vanda Symon Penguin, $28.00, ISBN 9780143006657 From My Cold, Cold Hands David McGill Silver Owl Press, $34.99,  ISBN 9780958245159 The

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review
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