Blog Archives
Making a New Land: Environmental Histories of New Zealand Eric Pawson and Tom Brooking (eds) Otago University Press, $40.00, ISBN 9781877578526 Making a New Land: Environmental Histories of New Zealand is a revised, expanded and renamed edition of Environmental Histories…
Above the City: A History of Otago Boys’ High School 1863-2013 Rory Sweetman Otago Boys’ High School Foundation, $75.00, ISBN 9780473247720 It was with some trepidation that I approached this book. It is a weighty hard-cover history, running to 440…
Purgatory Rosetta Allan Penguin, $30.00 ISBN 9780143571025 James Cook’s New World Graeme Lay Fourth Estate, $37.00 ISBN 9781775540410 There’s one current phenomenon in New Zealand literature that I’m watching with great interest. It’s the fact that, with a few honourable…
Journey to a Hanging: The Events that Set New Zealand Race Relations Back by a Century Peter Wells Vintage, $45.00 ISBN 9781775533900 As a child, I owned a Webster’s Illustrated Dictionary. My brother had bought it in mail-order instalments over…
Richard Seddon: King of God’s Own – The Life and Times of New Zealand’s Longest-serving Prime Minister Tom Brooking Penguin, $65.00 ISBN 9780143569671 I grew up in a very complacent country which didn’t really take its history seriously. New Zealand…
Carnival Sky Owen Marshall Vintage, $38.00 ISBN 9781775535827 The White Clock Owen Marshall Otago University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9781877578632 Both of Marshall’s latest works centre on confrontations with mortality, and both do a fine job of showing that these are…
The New Zealand CPI at 100: History and Interpretation Sharleen Forbes and Antong Victorio (eds) Victoria University Press, $40.00, ISBN 9780864739667 To my considerable surprise, I enjoyed this book, and learnt much more than I expected from the diversity of…
Paul Morris reflects on reviewing overseas and at home. Spending time elsewhere inevitably leads to comparisons. I want to reflect on reviewing and the differences between the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Book reviews form part of what I call…