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The ongoing stream of history, Ranginui Walker

The People of Many Peaks, 1769-1869 Claudia Orange (ed), Bridget Williams Books and Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington, 1991, $35.00 This book contains the biographies of 161 notable Maori leaders between 1769 and 1869 who appear in the first volume

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Posted in Biography, Māori, Non-fiction, Review

Poem — Hone Tuwhare

Shadow   Implicit above all and as pervasive as the Duende of Federico Garcia Lorca is the sense that I must tread the liveliest and loneliest of measures on my way to Rarohenga cocking a snook at the shadow of

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Posted in Poem

An epic tale of inheritance, Charlotte MacDonald

The Hanging Sky Shirley Corlett, Mallinson Rendel, Wellington, 1990, $55 (Paper $39.95) Beginning when ‘Man’ (this is no tale of humankind) first stepped upon the land ‘that had been part of Gondwanaland’ and ending with the present, The Hanging Sky is an epic

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

The Ninth Floor, Margaret Hayward

The Ninth Floor – Inside the Prime Minister’s Office Harvey McQueen Penguin Books, Auckland, 1991, $24.95 The first few chapters of The Ninth Floor amazed me. I’m used to books about politics that hedge their bets. If they say something good about someone

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Posted in Non-fiction, Politics & Law, Review

The distinctiveness of Phillip Mann: a survey, Van Iken

Wulfsyarn: A mosaic Phillip Mann, Gollancz, London, 1990, $45.95 Phillip Mann is contemporary New Zealand science fiction. The Chairperson of the Department of Theatre and Film at Victoria University, he has published five science fiction novels in less than ten years. The

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

The warp and woof of Wellington, J M Thomson

The Making of Wellington 1800-1914 David Hamer and Roberta Nicholls (eds) Victoria University Press, Wellington, 1990, $39.95 Colonial Capital, Wellington 1865-1910 Terence Hodgson Random Century, Auckland, 1990, $34.95 A study of the evolution of a city provides an excellent opportunity

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Posted in History, Non-fiction, Review

Brittle and febrile images, Anne French

Motu Tapu: Stories of the South Pacific Graeme Lay, Polynesian Press, Auckland. 1990, $19.95 A Network of Dissolving Threads Richard von Sturmer, Auckland University Press, 1991, $19.95 Motu Tapu is described as a collection of ‘stories of the South Pacific’,

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Short stories

The law and you: three valuable guides, Nicky Darlow

Adoption, Guide to Law and Practice Robert Ludbrook Government Printer, Wellington, 1990, $16.95 Human Rights Robert Ludbrook Government Printer, Wellington. 1990, $12.95 Your Small Business John Pettigrew Government Printer, Wellington, 1990, $12.95 Adoption has been likened to a legal conjuring

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

History as editorial cunning, Vincent O’Sullivan

The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature Terry Sturm (ed), Oxford University Press, Auckland, 1991, $69.95 To take up a 750-page book about hundreds of other books one has read only a fraction of, and to persist to the end

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Posted in History, Literature, Non-fiction, Review

Girls in New Zealand schools, Robyn Baker

Twelve Plus – girls in school George Bryant and Noni Johnson, Dunmore Press, Palmerston North, 1990, $27.95 At School I’ve Got a Chance Alison Jones (ed) Dunmore Press, Palmerston North, 1990, $27.95 In New Zealand secondary schools there is an understood

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Posted in Gender, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology
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