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The Penguin History of New Zealand
New Zealand was the last country in the world to be discovered and settled by humankind. It was also the first to introduce a full democracy. Between those events, and in the century that followed the franchise, the movements and the conflicts of human history have been played out more intensively and more rapidly in New Zealand than anywhere else on Earth. This title tells that story in all its colour and drama. The narrative that emerges is an inclusive one about men and women, Maori and Pakeha. It shows that British motives in colonizing New Zealand were essentially humane; and that Maori, far from being passive victims of a "fatal impact", coped heroically with colonization and survived by selectively accepting and adapting what Western technology and culture had to offer. The latter part of the book reveals how an insulated and dependent British colony transformed itself into an independent nation, open to and competing with technological and cultural influences sweeping the globe.
570 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
About the author
Michael King
250 books33 followersMichael King was one of New Zealand's leading historians and biographers. In 2006 he was named one of 100 most important New Zealanders that have ever lived. He published more than 34 books in his lifetime. His last, The Penguin History of New Zealand, has sold more than 200,000 copies and is widely considered to be the definitive history of New Zealand. His work in literary biography - most notably Wrestling With the Angel, on the life of Janet Frame - also received great critical acclaim. He made many level-headed contributions to race-relations debates and is sorely missed by his country.
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September 4, 2018
This book was published in 2003 & there will never be a revised edition - not written by Michael King anyway, as he was tragically killed in a car accident in 2004.
I love this photo of him (taken in 1992, sourced from Wikipedia)
A happy face, right? & I like to think this is how he looked when he wrote about us Kiwis, as for a history this book is astonishingly non judgemental. King looks at our mistakes (& as a country we have made some lulus!) but doesn't condemn us. It is nice to believe our British forebears overall meant well & that Maori were not naive dupes, but often gracious hosts & masterly strategists.
I found the writing on the Treaty of Waitangi particularly illuminating & the speed which the Maori translation was cobbled together really frightening. When thinking about The Treaty it is like the Maori & the Europeans were signing two different documents - that is because they were! Trying to fix what often seems to be unfixable has dominated New Zealand's recent history.
One historical figure King is relatively harsh about is our 23rd Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage. I'm not going to dispute King's findings, but I'm so used to him being venerated that it was a shock to the system!
If some of the start felt a little lengthy & the end a little rushed, that probably shows my own biases more than anything about King.
An important starting point for anyone wanting to understand New Zealand's history.
I love this photo of him (taken in 1992, sourced from Wikipedia)
A happy face, right? & I like to think this is how he looked when he wrote about us Kiwis, as for a history this book is astonishingly non judgemental. King looks at our mistakes (& as a country we have made some lulus!) but doesn't condemn us. It is nice to believe our British forebears overall meant well & that Maori were not naive dupes, but often gracious hosts & masterly strategists.
I found the writing on the Treaty of Waitangi particularly illuminating & the speed which the Maori translation was cobbled together really frightening. When thinking about The Treaty it is like the Maori & the Europeans were signing two different documents - that is because they were! Trying to fix what often seems to be unfixable has dominated New Zealand's recent history.
One historical figure King is relatively harsh about is our 23rd Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage. I'm not going to dispute King's findings, but I'm so used to him being venerated that it was a shock to the system!
If some of the start felt a little lengthy & the end a little rushed, that probably shows my own biases more than anything about King.
An important starting point for anyone wanting to understand New Zealand's history.
February 11, 2016
The Penguin History of New Zealand: Michael King's History for Two Peoples
If you want to know practically anything about New Zealand or anything about anyone of consequence to its history, Michael King is your reference source. The author of over thirty books on all things New Zealand, King's The Penguin History of New Zealand, published in 2003, is considered the best history written in the thirty years preceding its publication.
New Zealand's history is dominated by its Maori People who arrived on its shores over a thousand years ago. While that seems a terribly long time ago it's a mere eye blink in the geological history of the world. The Maori, of Polynesian descent, sailed in canoes, landing on New Zealand Shores in the mid 14th Century, relying on the carbon dating of a Maori pearl shell fishing lure recovered in the Bay of Plenty area of the North Island.
It was much later that New Zealand was discovered by Europeans. The first being Abel Tasman, the Dutchman in 1642, believing he had found Terra Australis, the unknown Southern Continent. Tasman had also been tasked with finding gold. He didn't. Although Gold would later play a major part in the development of modern New Zealand.
Interestingly enough, Tasman did make contact with the Maori. Having been instructed by his government not to engage in hostile action with any indigenous people, he did not, though the Maori, who must have been amazed by the appearance in their waters of Tasman's three masted ships were quite satisfied to have put the white skinned dutchmen in their places, having struck one of them, killed them, and hauled them inland to cook and eat him. Consider it an early case of cultural assimulation. Ahem.
One Hundred Twenty Six years later the English arrived, represented by Captain James Cook. Yes, break out your elementary school social studies or grammar school primers. That Captain Cook. The one who discovered Hawaii, most notable to Americans as the setting for the Elvis Presley film, "Blue Hawaii." On more academic levels, however, it was Cook who would pave the way for later Europeans dealings with the to both sides of an argument. Even when an argument resulted in ten of his men being eaten over a misunderstanding concerning a shovel. Ahem.
King dispels earlier romanticized histories of New Zealand exploration and European relationships with the Maori. As such, much of the paternalism related in those previous histories is eliminated here. Earlier historians romanticized characteristics of the Maori as protective of the environment and innately humane. This was not the case. The Maori could be intensely cruel, eliminating rival tribes during a period of musket wars in the early European settling of the land. The Maori additionally hunted bird and animal species to extinction, hardly indicative of their awareness of a conservatorship of the land.
King also takes issue with traditional Maori beliefs that white Settlers had no ability to develop any spiritual connection with the land. It is at this point King drops the role of historian and appears to take the position of a native New Zealander who has a personal love of his land. A small point to quibble over in light of careful scholarship engagingly covered otherwise.
King's retelling of England's taking on New Zealand as a Colony through the Treaty of Waitangi is an entertaining bit of history as con game. Here, the Treaty of Waitangi, by which England obtained sovereignty over New Zealand at the expense of the Maori, is uncovered as a skilfull bit of a shell game, adeptly handled.
To be continued...
If you want to know practically anything about New Zealand or anything about anyone of consequence to its history, Michael King is your reference source. The author of over thirty books on all things New Zealand, King's The Penguin History of New Zealand, published in 2003, is considered the best history written in the thirty years preceding its publication.
New Zealand's history is dominated by its Maori People who arrived on its shores over a thousand years ago. While that seems a terribly long time ago it's a mere eye blink in the geological history of the world. The Maori, of Polynesian descent, sailed in canoes, landing on New Zealand Shores in the mid 14th Century, relying on the carbon dating of a Maori pearl shell fishing lure recovered in the Bay of Plenty area of the North Island.
It was much later that New Zealand was discovered by Europeans. The first being Abel Tasman, the Dutchman in 1642, believing he had found Terra Australis, the unknown Southern Continent. Tasman had also been tasked with finding gold. He didn't. Although Gold would later play a major part in the development of modern New Zealand.
Interestingly enough, Tasman did make contact with the Maori. Having been instructed by his government not to engage in hostile action with any indigenous people, he did not, though the Maori, who must have been amazed by the appearance in their waters of Tasman's three masted ships were quite satisfied to have put the white skinned dutchmen in their places, having struck one of them, killed them, and hauled them inland to cook and eat him. Consider it an early case of cultural assimulation. Ahem.
One Hundred Twenty Six years later the English arrived, represented by Captain James Cook. Yes, break out your elementary school social studies or grammar school primers. That Captain Cook. The one who discovered Hawaii, most notable to Americans as the setting for the Elvis Presley film, "Blue Hawaii." On more academic levels, however, it was Cook who would pave the way for later Europeans dealings with the to both sides of an argument. Even when an argument resulted in ten of his men being eaten over a misunderstanding concerning a shovel. Ahem.
King dispels earlier romanticized histories of New Zealand exploration and European relationships with the Maori. As such, much of the paternalism related in those previous histories is eliminated here. Earlier historians romanticized characteristics of the Maori as protective of the environment and innately humane. This was not the case. The Maori could be intensely cruel, eliminating rival tribes during a period of musket wars in the early European settling of the land. The Maori additionally hunted bird and animal species to extinction, hardly indicative of their awareness of a conservatorship of the land.
King also takes issue with traditional Maori beliefs that white Settlers had no ability to develop any spiritual connection with the land. It is at this point King drops the role of historian and appears to take the position of a native New Zealander who has a personal love of his land. A small point to quibble over in light of careful scholarship engagingly covered otherwise.
King's retelling of England's taking on New Zealand as a Colony through the Treaty of Waitangi is an entertaining bit of history as con game. Here, the Treaty of Waitangi, by which England obtained sovereignty over New Zealand at the expense of the Maori, is uncovered as a skilfull bit of a shell game, adeptly handled.
To be continued...
January 27, 2012
You might think that living so close to New Zealand I would have known more about it – not that I didn’t assume I knew all there was to know before I went over there for three weeks. In fact, I knew nothing about the place at all and so reading this book became urgent.
One of the main differences is the landscape – New Zealand is very geologically active, the complete opposite of Australia – and it is also mountainous, were Australia prefers flat surfaces. Australia doesn’t have volcanoes or major cities that are built on top of what will (not might) one day erupt and destroy the place. And then there’s Rotorua – you know, any place that has mud bubbling out of the ground, geezers and lakes and rivers of boiling water is essentially telling the locals that this is NOT a place where humans are welcome. How much more obvious does it need to be?
I hadn’t realised Karl Popper had gone to New Zealand to get away from the Nazis. As he said, New Zealand isn’t the moon, but after the moon it is as far away as you can go.
The Maori – essentially East Polynesians – arrived only about 800 years ago. Their oral traditions, mostly based on a very strong ancestor worship, links tribes back to their various canoes that arrived at the time. Oddly enough, there had to have been other Maori to have arrived in New Zealand much earlier, around 2-3000 years ago, but that either left again, died out due to not bringing enough women with them or were killed in one of the endless string of massively violent eruptions that so heavily punctuate New Zealand history. They know this because there are rats – this time from West Polynesia – that had gotten onto the Islands at that time and the best explanation is the Maori brought them, even if they didn’t stay themselves.
The Maori brought the rats to eat – rats, dogs, pigs. They were the first mammals on New Zealand other than a strange bat that walks about on its elbows. New Zealand was very much the land of the birds – the Moa being one of the biggest (a drum stick of which was the size of a side of beef). And while we are on strange animals you might like to look up the Weta at some stage too – the world’s largest insect the Maori name of which means something like the god of ugly things. To be honest, I didn’t know insects could get that big – I thought that since they breathe through their skin they were limited in how big they could get and that limit was much less than the size of a hand.
The thing that makes Australia socially quite different from New Zealand is the Treaty of Waitangi. A treaty with Aboriginal Australians would be ‘fair’ and we Australians try to avoid ‘fair’ when we deal with our native peoples – something that has worked a treat for 200 years and so is unlikely to be changed any time soon. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed by Crown and Maori chiefs (many of them women – oh, and New Zealand was the first place to give women the vote) before there were really any settlers in New Zealand. The people signing the treaty had been involved in the anti-slavery campaigns and so were keen not to make the same mistake in mistreating a native culture as had been done previously. The Maori were also quite war like and so this made Sydney seem a much more logical place for a penal settlement. This, and the subsequent migration patterns to both Australia and New Zealand, also set the two countries on quite different paths. At one stage over 70 per cent of Australians were Irish – in New Zealand the Irish were always a minority (there being many more English and Scots than Irish).
The Treaty gave the Maori supposed control over their land, but this was a treaty that had been signed by white people and so for a very long time was simply ignored by them. This is a pattern of behaviour we whites have become quite well known for – a brief glance at the treaties signed with the Native American peoples as a case in point. The Maori could have had no idea what was about to happen – when the treaty was signed there were hardly any whites in New Zealand at all – in 30 years there were more whites than Maori and the full implications of what was happening became clear to all. Normally you have the treaty after a war – but not in this case. The Maori wars started after the treaty was signed and were much more interesting than you might expect (not the inevitable slaughter so characteristic of just about everywhere else Europeans encountered a native population) – the Maori seem to have been rarely defeated. In fact, in many ways how they fought the Europeans contributed to the development of trench warfare the English would go on to use in both the Crimea War and WW1. However, when the Maori were defeated their land was generally confiscated in compensation – although, interestingly enough often not the land of the Maori who had fought against the Europeans (who often didn’t have the land the Europeans wanted) but rather the land of Maori who often had fought on the side of the Europeans – I guess this was done as a way of teaching the local Maori a valuable lesson.
As that American poet Frost said about us white people, ‘The land was ours before we were the lands’ – and this was also true in New Zealand. Europeans never really felt they belonged and the sense of belonging has been slow in developing and quite distinct from the feeling Maori have had for the land. Two separate traditions opened up, with Europeans seeing themselves as pioneers in claiming the land for its ‘proper use’ and Maori increasingly being seen (both by themselves and the Europeans) as a people on the verge of extinction. But this hasn’t proven to be the case and Maori have proudly reclaimed their heritage and culture and even have latterly had the Treaty of Waitangi enforced and some of the more criminal abuses of that treaty overturned. There is some wonderfully patronising stuff in the history of New Zealand (if there is one thing we Europeans do particularly well it is patronising local peoples) – my favourite being the local Europeans saying their efforts had been the most enlightened of any settler people and that the Maori were the best of all possible coloured people. Yay team.
The only television we found even partly interesting in New Zealand was the Maori channel – all the rest is completely unwatchable unless you are particularly fond of Border Control and endless American Sky TV cheap and nasty waste of life programming. Their newspapers are nothing if not consistent, however, they are unfortunately consistently utter shite and so virtually unreadable. Think of the Murdoch press at its worst and of papers almost completely devoid of anything other than local news (and even that mostly of car accidents). I assume the reason why there are so many New Zealand writers, actors, directors , opera singers and musicians is that they have to think of something else to do other than watch television or they would simply go insane.
The movement away from mother England (New Zealand saw itself as not just a new Britain, but in fact potentially a better Britain) was slow, painful and resisted by New Zealand at every step and much more than was even the case here in Australia – and that is really saying something. New Zealand saves its patriotism mostly for the rugby field – a game that seems to involve running with all your might into a wall of meat and being thrown to the ground only to get up and do it again. I never have understood the pseudo homoerotic rituals of contact sports, but then, at least I don’t play favourites – I don’t watch mud wrestling when it involves semi-naked women, so I’m hardly going to watch mud wrestling when it involves semi-naked men. But these displays of thuggery are the national obsession and religion.
I’d forgotten that Rogernomics was a Labour Party invention – ah, the triumph of neoliberal ideas could hardly be more clearly demonstrated. Not that the Australian Labor Party at the time did much better. Still, if you want to see how effective neoliberalism has been at destroying the social base of a country you probably don’t have to look to much further than New Zealand – a country were record numbers are still leaving to work in Australia to get paid often double what they received at home for the same work.
I remember David Lange being asked if he thought New Zealand would become an Australian state – and him saying it never would as it would have an economy about the size of Queensland and he had no intention of being treated the way Australia treats Queensland. But there are many other reasons why New Zealand is unlikely to ever be an Australian state – not least that we are much more different countries than I think either side likes to admit. New Zealanders are much more quirky than Australians too (something that would annoy many Australians if they ever found out – as we pride ourselves on being quirky too). I really had a wonderful time with them – but they really are quite different to Australians. For example, I had always thought the fact Australians call New Zealanders sheep shaggers would be taken as an insult – but they even have t-shirts and sculptures of gumboots behind sheep in provocative positions. Like I said, New Zealand is much more quirky than Australia.
It would be nice if some New Zealanders were able to stay in New Zealand – and thus not become Australian by default – but while their politicians are so intent on destroying working people’s ability to earn a living wage New Zealand’s only hope is of Australia accelerating its neoliberal economic policies to make the trip across the Tasman redundant. Something our Liberal Party is sure to do when it is re-elected soon.
One of the main differences is the landscape – New Zealand is very geologically active, the complete opposite of Australia – and it is also mountainous, were Australia prefers flat surfaces. Australia doesn’t have volcanoes or major cities that are built on top of what will (not might) one day erupt and destroy the place. And then there’s Rotorua – you know, any place that has mud bubbling out of the ground, geezers and lakes and rivers of boiling water is essentially telling the locals that this is NOT a place where humans are welcome. How much more obvious does it need to be?
I hadn’t realised Karl Popper had gone to New Zealand to get away from the Nazis. As he said, New Zealand isn’t the moon, but after the moon it is as far away as you can go.
The Maori – essentially East Polynesians – arrived only about 800 years ago. Their oral traditions, mostly based on a very strong ancestor worship, links tribes back to their various canoes that arrived at the time. Oddly enough, there had to have been other Maori to have arrived in New Zealand much earlier, around 2-3000 years ago, but that either left again, died out due to not bringing enough women with them or were killed in one of the endless string of massively violent eruptions that so heavily punctuate New Zealand history. They know this because there are rats – this time from West Polynesia – that had gotten onto the Islands at that time and the best explanation is the Maori brought them, even if they didn’t stay themselves.
The Maori brought the rats to eat – rats, dogs, pigs. They were the first mammals on New Zealand other than a strange bat that walks about on its elbows. New Zealand was very much the land of the birds – the Moa being one of the biggest (a drum stick of which was the size of a side of beef). And while we are on strange animals you might like to look up the Weta at some stage too – the world’s largest insect the Maori name of which means something like the god of ugly things. To be honest, I didn’t know insects could get that big – I thought that since they breathe through their skin they were limited in how big they could get and that limit was much less than the size of a hand.
The thing that makes Australia socially quite different from New Zealand is the Treaty of Waitangi. A treaty with Aboriginal Australians would be ‘fair’ and we Australians try to avoid ‘fair’ when we deal with our native peoples – something that has worked a treat for 200 years and so is unlikely to be changed any time soon. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed by Crown and Maori chiefs (many of them women – oh, and New Zealand was the first place to give women the vote) before there were really any settlers in New Zealand. The people signing the treaty had been involved in the anti-slavery campaigns and so were keen not to make the same mistake in mistreating a native culture as had been done previously. The Maori were also quite war like and so this made Sydney seem a much more logical place for a penal settlement. This, and the subsequent migration patterns to both Australia and New Zealand, also set the two countries on quite different paths. At one stage over 70 per cent of Australians were Irish – in New Zealand the Irish were always a minority (there being many more English and Scots than Irish).
The Treaty gave the Maori supposed control over their land, but this was a treaty that had been signed by white people and so for a very long time was simply ignored by them. This is a pattern of behaviour we whites have become quite well known for – a brief glance at the treaties signed with the Native American peoples as a case in point. The Maori could have had no idea what was about to happen – when the treaty was signed there were hardly any whites in New Zealand at all – in 30 years there were more whites than Maori and the full implications of what was happening became clear to all. Normally you have the treaty after a war – but not in this case. The Maori wars started after the treaty was signed and were much more interesting than you might expect (not the inevitable slaughter so characteristic of just about everywhere else Europeans encountered a native population) – the Maori seem to have been rarely defeated. In fact, in many ways how they fought the Europeans contributed to the development of trench warfare the English would go on to use in both the Crimea War and WW1. However, when the Maori were defeated their land was generally confiscated in compensation – although, interestingly enough often not the land of the Maori who had fought against the Europeans (who often didn’t have the land the Europeans wanted) but rather the land of Maori who often had fought on the side of the Europeans – I guess this was done as a way of teaching the local Maori a valuable lesson.
As that American poet Frost said about us white people, ‘The land was ours before we were the lands’ – and this was also true in New Zealand. Europeans never really felt they belonged and the sense of belonging has been slow in developing and quite distinct from the feeling Maori have had for the land. Two separate traditions opened up, with Europeans seeing themselves as pioneers in claiming the land for its ‘proper use’ and Maori increasingly being seen (both by themselves and the Europeans) as a people on the verge of extinction. But this hasn’t proven to be the case and Maori have proudly reclaimed their heritage and culture and even have latterly had the Treaty of Waitangi enforced and some of the more criminal abuses of that treaty overturned. There is some wonderfully patronising stuff in the history of New Zealand (if there is one thing we Europeans do particularly well it is patronising local peoples) – my favourite being the local Europeans saying their efforts had been the most enlightened of any settler people and that the Maori were the best of all possible coloured people. Yay team.
The only television we found even partly interesting in New Zealand was the Maori channel – all the rest is completely unwatchable unless you are particularly fond of Border Control and endless American Sky TV cheap and nasty waste of life programming. Their newspapers are nothing if not consistent, however, they are unfortunately consistently utter shite and so virtually unreadable. Think of the Murdoch press at its worst and of papers almost completely devoid of anything other than local news (and even that mostly of car accidents). I assume the reason why there are so many New Zealand writers, actors, directors , opera singers and musicians is that they have to think of something else to do other than watch television or they would simply go insane.
The movement away from mother England (New Zealand saw itself as not just a new Britain, but in fact potentially a better Britain) was slow, painful and resisted by New Zealand at every step and much more than was even the case here in Australia – and that is really saying something. New Zealand saves its patriotism mostly for the rugby field – a game that seems to involve running with all your might into a wall of meat and being thrown to the ground only to get up and do it again. I never have understood the pseudo homoerotic rituals of contact sports, but then, at least I don’t play favourites – I don’t watch mud wrestling when it involves semi-naked women, so I’m hardly going to watch mud wrestling when it involves semi-naked men. But these displays of thuggery are the national obsession and religion.
I’d forgotten that Rogernomics was a Labour Party invention – ah, the triumph of neoliberal ideas could hardly be more clearly demonstrated. Not that the Australian Labor Party at the time did much better. Still, if you want to see how effective neoliberalism has been at destroying the social base of a country you probably don’t have to look to much further than New Zealand – a country were record numbers are still leaving to work in Australia to get paid often double what they received at home for the same work.
I remember David Lange being asked if he thought New Zealand would become an Australian state – and him saying it never would as it would have an economy about the size of Queensland and he had no intention of being treated the way Australia treats Queensland. But there are many other reasons why New Zealand is unlikely to ever be an Australian state – not least that we are much more different countries than I think either side likes to admit. New Zealanders are much more quirky than Australians too (something that would annoy many Australians if they ever found out – as we pride ourselves on being quirky too). I really had a wonderful time with them – but they really are quite different to Australians. For example, I had always thought the fact Australians call New Zealanders sheep shaggers would be taken as an insult – but they even have t-shirts and sculptures of gumboots behind sheep in provocative positions. Like I said, New Zealand is much more quirky than Australia.
It would be nice if some New Zealanders were able to stay in New Zealand – and thus not become Australian by default – but while their politicians are so intent on destroying working people’s ability to earn a living wage New Zealand’s only hope is of Australia accelerating its neoliberal economic policies to make the trip across the Tasman redundant. Something our Liberal Party is sure to do when it is re-elected soon.
February 11, 2018
A wonderfully readable and very informative history, from pre-history to the present. The author keeps a great balance between the the Maori and Pakeha, European, perspectives.
I was especially taken by the the great differences between the history of NZ and my own country, Canada. Although both countries are former British possessions, their time and place have resulted in two very different cultures, both political and social. NZ’s long enduring attachment to Britain, seemingly trying to out-British the British, is quite different from Canada’s somewhat earlier goals of trying to become an independent nation with its own identity. Although I do recall a childhood of having the Queen and Prince Philip overseeing my education from high up over the blackboard.
I am currently writing this is the Christchurch Art Gallery and looking forward to spending a month here in NZ.
An exceptional history. Highly recommended. Thanks Marita.
I was especially taken by the the great differences between the history of NZ and my own country, Canada. Although both countries are former British possessions, their time and place have resulted in two very different cultures, both political and social. NZ’s long enduring attachment to Britain, seemingly trying to out-British the British, is quite different from Canada’s somewhat earlier goals of trying to become an independent nation with its own identity. Although I do recall a childhood of having the Queen and Prince Philip overseeing my education from high up over the blackboard.
I am currently writing this is the Christchurch Art Gallery and looking forward to spending a month here in NZ.
An exceptional history. Highly recommended. Thanks Marita.
August 23, 2019
Kādu dienu staigājot pa Kvīnstaunu, man galvā ienāca ģeniāla doma – vajadzētu nopirkt kādu grāmatu par šīs valsts vēsturi. Es jau zināju, ka šī vēsture te nemaz nav tik gara, ja neskaita dinozaurus un moa putnus. Atradu grāmatu veikalu, iegāju iekšā, pataujāju par labāko Jaunzēlandes vēstures grāmatu, kuru te var dabūt. Man teica, ka šī būs īstā, nopirku un jau vakarā sāku lasīt. Palasīju vēl divus vakarus un atliku lasīšanu uz pusgadu.
Ļai gan grāmatas nosaukumā ir piesaukti pingvīni, nevajag maldīties, par pingvīniem te tiek runāts tikai kā par diētas elementu. Šī ir cilvēku vēsture Jaunzēlandē. Un tā sākās ar maoru izsēšanos Ziemeļsalas krastos. Ap šo pasākumu ir savītas daudzas leģendas un neiztiek pat bez žurku DNS analīzēm. Bet viens ir skaidrs – tā bija mērķtiecīga maoru pārcelšanās uz dzīvi te, ar mājdzīvniekiem un kultūraugiem. Atbraukuši uz Jaunzēlandi, pirmos pārsimts gadus maori nodarbojās ar mērķtiecīgu floras un faunas iznicināšanu un tad atbrauca eiropieši un viss sākās pa īstam.
Kā jau vēstures grāmatai pienākas, te ir gan interesantāki posmi, gan tik garlaicīgi, ka lasot vari aizmigt. Pie interesantajām ir pieskaitāmas nodaļas par manu un tās sadalījumu starp ciltīm, pārmantojamību un iztērēšanu, tāds dikti interesants koncepts, pat interesantāks nekā mikroekonomikā utiļi. Kartupeļu un to ietekme uz maoru karadarbību, kaut ko tādu pat domādams neizdomāsi! Patiesībā, ja eiropieši kartupeļus neievazātu, tad mēs šodien maorus redzētu tikai muzejos. Taču viņi ieveda un maori izkopa savas kaujas spējas cilšu karos tik tālu, ka bija cienījami pretiniekiem britiem.
Jāatzīmē, ka līdz ar Muskešu karu beigām pa lielam arī pazuda interesantās nodaļas, mūsdienu vēstures nodaļas vairāk bija veltītas politiskajām partijām, daudz uzvārdi, kuri man personīgi neko neizteica un par maz vietu nosaukumi, pie kuriem es varētu piesaistīt konkrētu notikumu. Īsumā Jaunzēlandi no nabadzības izglāba ledusskapja izgudrojums. Nākošā interesantā lieta bija maoru integrācija balto sabiedrībā, viegli jau viņiem negāja un cik noprotu zināms rasisms varētu pastāvēt pat tagad un no abām pusēm. Bet nu kaut kā iepriekšējos pāridarījumus valdība cenšas noliegt. Cik var noprast, tagad viņiem pabērnu jomā ir ķīnieši. Izlasot grāmatu es beidzot sapratu jaunzēlandiešu apsēstību ar Gallipoli kauju pirmā pasaules kara laikā.
Grāmata ir izglītojoša un šķirkļu rādītājs tās beigās ļaus nākotnē to pielietot kā uzziņu literatūru, lai gan godīgi sakot vikipēdiju izmantot ir daudz vieglāk. Grāmatai lieku 9 no 10 ballēm, nav jau viņiem tur daudz kas interesants noticies. Noteikti iesaku izlasīt pirmās divsimts lapaspuses.
Ļai gan grāmatas nosaukumā ir piesaukti pingvīni, nevajag maldīties, par pingvīniem te tiek runāts tikai kā par diētas elementu. Šī ir cilvēku vēsture Jaunzēlandē. Un tā sākās ar maoru izsēšanos Ziemeļsalas krastos. Ap šo pasākumu ir savītas daudzas leģendas un neiztiek pat bez žurku DNS analīzēm. Bet viens ir skaidrs – tā bija mērķtiecīga maoru pārcelšanās uz dzīvi te, ar mājdzīvniekiem un kultūraugiem. Atbraukuši uz Jaunzēlandi, pirmos pārsimts gadus maori nodarbojās ar mērķtiecīgu floras un faunas iznicināšanu un tad atbrauca eiropieši un viss sākās pa īstam.
Kā jau vēstures grāmatai pienākas, te ir gan interesantāki posmi, gan tik garlaicīgi, ka lasot vari aizmigt. Pie interesantajām ir pieskaitāmas nodaļas par manu un tās sadalījumu starp ciltīm, pārmantojamību un iztērēšanu, tāds dikti interesants koncepts, pat interesantāks nekā mikroekonomikā utiļi. Kartupeļu un to ietekme uz maoru karadarbību, kaut ko tādu pat domādams neizdomāsi! Patiesībā, ja eiropieši kartupeļus neievazātu, tad mēs šodien maorus redzētu tikai muzejos. Taču viņi ieveda un maori izkopa savas kaujas spējas cilšu karos tik tālu, ka bija cienījami pretiniekiem britiem.
Jāatzīmē, ka līdz ar Muskešu karu beigām pa lielam arī pazuda interesantās nodaļas, mūsdienu vēstures nodaļas vairāk bija veltītas politiskajām partijām, daudz uzvārdi, kuri man personīgi neko neizteica un par maz vietu nosaukumi, pie kuriem es varētu piesaistīt konkrētu notikumu. Īsumā Jaunzēlandi no nabadzības izglāba ledusskapja izgudrojums. Nākošā interesantā lieta bija maoru integrācija balto sabiedrībā, viegli jau viņiem negāja un cik noprotu zināms rasisms varētu pastāvēt pat tagad un no abām pusēm. Bet nu kaut kā iepriekšējos pāridarījumus valdība cenšas noliegt. Cik var noprast, tagad viņiem pabērnu jomā ir ķīnieši. Izlasot grāmatu es beidzot sapratu jaunzēlandiešu apsēstību ar Gallipoli kauju pirmā pasaules kara laikā.
Grāmata ir izglītojoša un šķirkļu rādītājs tās beigās ļaus nākotnē to pielietot kā uzziņu literatūru, lai gan godīgi sakot vikipēdiju izmantot ir daudz vieglāk. Grāmatai lieku 9 no 10 ballēm, nav jau viņiem tur daudz kas interesants noticies. Noteikti iesaku izlasīt pirmās divsimts lapaspuses.
February 3, 2013
This book is considered by many to be a benchmark historical account of Mew Zealand's history but having read extensively through primary source material and abundant eyewitness accounts I am forced to conclude that this book does not give an accurate portrayal of NZs history. Michael King is actually giving a revisionist history that is more fiction than fact. My first issue is with the lack of bibliography? Is this not a surprising omission considering the scope of a non fiction historical book. His recommendations for further reading contain recent authors like himself, more interested in promoting an agenda rather than the truth. My second issue is with the inaccuracies the book contains. First example - it appears the author failed to read any of the tribal histories easily available that clearly reveal Maori colonized an inhabited country - he mentions this but discounts it entirely with no explanation. Another example of inaccuracy is the population figures he quotes on page 210. Why did he ignore a primary source like Charles Heaphy who submitted his paper to the House of Representatives in 1861 with a complete breakdown of tribal numbers and territory in contrast to the European population and land ownership. For some reason Michael King chose to fabricate a reason for the Land Wars based upon the mistaken belief that Maori were being overwhelmed by migrating Europeans which is erroneous. The reasons for the Land Wars was more complex and not raced based - Maori vs European - ignoring the fact that many Maori tribes fought with European forces against Maori. New Zealand's true history is easily found in an abundance of books written throughout the early days of our history, by Maori and European. To anyone genuinely seeking an accurate history avoid books written after 1970 and beware of revisionists!
October 8, 2019
The best book on New Zealand’s history that you will find, as written by its preeminent historian. The most popular New Zealand book in 2004, this is simply the go to book on New Zealand for both pre and post European colonisation. King is able to adroitly navigate the interactions between Pakeha and Europeans in order to present them in as unbiased way as possible in order to highlight that the Treaty signed by the indigenous people of New Zealand was one in which the full implications were not fully understood. The resultant Land Wars thereafter were entirely predictable. Whist very readable, The Penguin History of New Zealand is still a detailed and weighty tome as it covers its prehistoric past up to current times and is certainly not one to be picked up lightly.
January 5, 2022
Dense asf but very interesting and think everyone in Aotearoa should read this!!!
October 12, 2020
Ah, I had lived in NZ for many years before reading this book.
If only I had known how crucial it would be to understanding what has happened and what is happening. It should be mandatory reading for any new immigrant. What shocked me more was realising that most Kiwis were ignorant of the history of their own country.
Imagine an America where you had a Black Lives Matter movement and a white population that knew nothing of slavery. That is what NZ was like in the past. Thankfully, a much fuller and inclusive NZ history is being taught in schools today.
I think NZ has lead the world when it comes to acknowledging past injustices. Many years ago the Govt began making reparations to Maori for land confiscations and various other wrongdoings. IT was done with huge backlash from Pakeha (white-ish people) simply because Pakeha had zero knowledge of those past wrongdoings.
Maori culture and history is very much a verbal based event with knowledge pased down through the generations by word of mouth. This meant that practically all Maori knew what had happened to their people since the Pakeha came but Pakeha didn't, so you can imagine how that played out over the years.
I am not digressing because this is the core of NZ history that is relevant today. This also not a dry history book with a list of dates and events, context is woven throughout.
I will go so far to say that any Kiwi who hasn't read this book is just another extension of the colonialism that lead to the near genocide of the people of this land.
If only I had known how crucial it would be to understanding what has happened and what is happening. It should be mandatory reading for any new immigrant. What shocked me more was realising that most Kiwis were ignorant of the history of their own country.
Imagine an America where you had a Black Lives Matter movement and a white population that knew nothing of slavery. That is what NZ was like in the past. Thankfully, a much fuller and inclusive NZ history is being taught in schools today.
I think NZ has lead the world when it comes to acknowledging past injustices. Many years ago the Govt began making reparations to Maori for land confiscations and various other wrongdoings. IT was done with huge backlash from Pakeha (white-ish people) simply because Pakeha had zero knowledge of those past wrongdoings.
Maori culture and history is very much a verbal based event with knowledge pased down through the generations by word of mouth. This meant that practically all Maori knew what had happened to their people since the Pakeha came but Pakeha didn't, so you can imagine how that played out over the years.
I am not digressing because this is the core of NZ history that is relevant today. This also not a dry history book with a list of dates and events, context is woven throughout.
I will go so far to say that any Kiwi who hasn't read this book is just another extension of the colonialism that lead to the near genocide of the people of this land.
December 4, 2016
I don't know why, but I was always attracted to New Zealand and dreamed about travelling there for years. I started this book in January for the "book about a culture you're unfamiliar with" category of the 2016 Popsugar Challenge to learn more about this country, where I was to spend a month road-tripping in November. I decided to read a chapter a week, the plan being to finish it somewhere in July, with a few month margin if it went askew.
It did, because this book is detailed. Very detailed. Do we really need to know exactly how many soldiers died in each battles? It was sometimes so slow that I felt like it was slowing down time like in some movies! I took the opportunity of 23 hours of plane to come back home to try to sleep and incidentally finish it. Nevertheless, this book was really interesting and I learned a lot. But I would have exactly the same if it was 100 pages shorter.
I like the new Kindle feature that uploads in Goodreads the highlighted quote. I find I tend to re-read them more on my computer than on the ereader. It allowed me to remember this pearl:
‘Pain is inevitable, misery is optional. Stick a geranium in your hat and be happy.’ (a kiwi's motto during the Depression).
That's exactly what I felt reading this book: "It may not be very entertaining, but you want to know more about New Zealand, so take what you can get and read quickly the endless list of names you won't remember anyway".
It did, because this book is detailed. Very detailed. Do we really need to know exactly how many soldiers died in each battles? It was sometimes so slow that I felt like it was slowing down time like in some movies! I took the opportunity of 23 hours of plane to come back home to try to sleep and incidentally finish it. Nevertheless, this book was really interesting and I learned a lot. But I would have exactly the same if it was 100 pages shorter.
I like the new Kindle feature that uploads in Goodreads the highlighted quote. I find I tend to re-read them more on my computer than on the ereader. It allowed me to remember this pearl:
‘Pain is inevitable, misery is optional. Stick a geranium in your hat and be happy.’ (a kiwi's motto during the Depression).
That's exactly what I felt reading this book: "It may not be very entertaining, but you want to know more about New Zealand, so take what you can get and read quickly the endless list of names you won't remember anyway".
March 26, 2013
This is a good narrative history of New Zealand. Its well written and manages to cover the material in a pretty balanced way. I enjoyed the way King explained the geological background and timescales. He also manages not to stay too aloof and general - I enjoyed the material on Thomas Russell for example and his cavalier capitalism at a time when the nation was beginning to really be built.
I'm sure there are parts that will annoy people of most political persuasions. Any material that deals with the relationship between the government and Maori in the nineteenth century is bound to annoy right wingers, and likewise the politically correct academia and Maori activists of the present might have seen red over his assessment of how in the span of time and our relationship with this place all New Zealand have become tangata whenua.
King avoids the awful tendency of many historians to patronise or judge the past (the 'we're so enlightened now' attitude). He is remarkably balanced - not too much of a cheerleader for the Savage government like some histories which seem to think Labour ended the Depression, for example.
Overall a good read for anyone with some interest in New Zealand's history and wanting a good overarching framework for understanding where we have come from.
I'm sure there are parts that will annoy people of most political persuasions. Any material that deals with the relationship between the government and Maori in the nineteenth century is bound to annoy right wingers, and likewise the politically correct academia and Maori activists of the present might have seen red over his assessment of how in the span of time and our relationship with this place all New Zealand have become tangata whenua.
King avoids the awful tendency of many historians to patronise or judge the past (the 'we're so enlightened now' attitude). He is remarkably balanced - not too much of a cheerleader for the Savage government like some histories which seem to think Labour ended the Depression, for example.
Overall a good read for anyone with some interest in New Zealand's history and wanting a good overarching framework for understanding where we have come from.
August 21, 2013
"The Penguin History of New Zealand" is a well written, concise and impartial overview of New Zealand's History. It's easy to read, full of interesting facts and anecdotes. My only wish would be for it to include more maps and illustrations as they help in understanding the facts.
May 20, 2023
This book is a great overview of the history of New Zealand. It spans from prehistoric times to the turn of the 21st century. Some of my favo(u)rite sections of the book discussed how the landmass of New Zealand was created when the Earth was formed, the migration of Eastern Polynesians that discovered NZ and became the Māori, the “myth” that Māori collectively refer to NZ as Aotearoa, and Kiwi’s contributions to WWI and WWII. The book also eloquently covers the nuanced relationship between Māori and Pākehā (non-Māori) inhabitants of NZ. I highly recommend listening to the audiobook version for a better understanding of all the Māori language.
June 16, 2020
I finally finished this book on New Zealand, and I must say it was highly informative and did a great job of addressing Maori (Indigenous New Zealanders) and Pakeha (largely European arrivals to New Zealand) throughout the book. It was interesting to see both contrasts and similarities to Australian history which I have already read about extensively. New Zealand was settled more gradually than most other settler colonial societies (ex. the US, Canada, even Australia perhaps) which has contributed both to its relatively low population today and broader acceptance of biculturalism between Maori and Pakeha peoples. Still, the racism and oppression that come with settler colonialism were still clearly apparent throughout this book, and it was interesting albeit heartbreaking to read about how a generally progressive country (it was the first Anglo-American society to provide equal suffrage to both women and Indigenous people) still has a long way to go in terms of ensuring equity and justice for Maori. It was well-written and researched, but this book felt rather long and could dive into minutiae that made it difficult to read at times. For that reason, I am giving it four stars.
May 1, 2019
Wow, what an impressive body of work. Very detailed yet easy to read. A little bit of repetition but this probably serves to cement the details. Definitely worth reading.
April 12, 2022
"Prehistory: to 1000 AD"
"1. A Land Without People"
6/10
Natural fauna was decimated by humans. Birds species died out because of rats and dogs. Maori killed off big birds while Europeans killed a wide variety of species. Pretty bareboned and doesn't seem like a great intro to outsiders.
"Settlement: to 1850 AD"
"2. Seeds of Rangiatea"
5,5/10
Early settlement. Still pretty hazy and focused on estimates.
"3. The Great New Zealand Myth"
5,5/10
Old myths that are mainly wrong.
"4. Landfall"
5/10
Again technical details about colonization and many various arguments for and against. I didn't remember much of this. It's not good writing. Instead of being a fun journey we get vague assumptions made by some boring researchers. Not a great way to present a country.
"5. First Colonisation"
5/10
Who came to New Zealand first?
"6. Te Ao Maori"
6/10
A bit about how the Maori lived. Pretty fine with some proper explanations.
"7. Distance Perforated"
7/10
Finally getting to history and not just archeology. Much better.
8. The Arrival of Europe
7,5/10
Very good! Cook travels to the area and treats everyone politely. Lots of explorers travel there. The locals are often very savage and violent so the European way of trading with locals to make both groups richer and happier is not something they want to do willingly. Europeans therefore have many reasons to not go there and Maori get to slowly adapt to Europeans. This is a basic overview from when New Zealand was discovered by Hollanders and named after a Holland province till Cook then arrived there 126 year later. By then no tribe was left to remember who the White people were.
"9. Maori Engage the World"
6,5/10
More about the meetings with Europeans and first European settlers.
"10. God and Guns"
6/10
More short stories. No overview yet. The book goes into specific people who did something. So a priest who tried to convert the Maori or some tradesman. All mini stories.
"11. A Treaty"
8,5/10
Britain wants to take over the colony so they send a ship there trying to force their laws on the area. Maori have to sign a document written in a day. They sign off their governorship to Britain, but the document is badly translated and no one knows what it really means.
"12. Tangata Tiriti"
7/10
More small stories.
"13. Tangata Whenua Respond"
7,5/10
Maori start to get more sick from the European diseases. More small stories. Maori start attacking Europeans to regain all their land and power over the land.
"Consolidation: to 1950 AD"
"14. New Settlers Take Control"
6/10
Location names are changed to English.
"15. A Time of Turbulence"
6,5/10
Worse times for Maori. More sickness and decline of population and they lose more areas as their leaders sell it off. Many Maori groups attack Europeans to regain power.
"16. A Functioning Nation?"
8/10
Economy and modernization of the nation.
"17. Maori Lifeways"
8,5/10
Very good. Maori lifestyle. They live in poverty. As their wars are abolished the different tribes focus on other image and group tools to sustain the group structures. They live outside European towns in huts so the whole culture looks different from the European one. They have their own schools, but otherwise have no governmentship like the European towns. There is also a lot of sickness and alcoholism there. They learn English in school. Also, Maori is a word for all the Polynesian tribes there. They are not only single group.
"18. Party Politics Begins"
6,5/10
A bit about how democratic New Zealand always was. The country also becomes much more modern.
"19. Baptism of Blood?"
6/10
New Zealanders help Britain in WW1. The war where millions of men died.
"20. Farmers in Charge"
6/10
Politics. Labor unions strike and attack at times causing deaths. They also gain power in the parliament and Britain wants to give New Zealand independence while New Zealand refuses to become independent. A lot of men mentioned and we are finally presented to famous New Zealanders, all emigrated the nation. But it's dry. The storytelling is not great.
"21. Maori Survival"
6/10
A bit about Maori leaders.
"22. Depression and Recovery"
6/10
Great depression and as always a left-wing government afterwards to increase spending.
"23. Conformity and Non-conformity"
7/10
A bit of a mix. Lots of the boring stuff initially, but the final 30% is great. About sports and other male activities that are shared among Europeans and Maori. Also a bit more about identity overall like race and religion.
"24. At War Again"
6,5/10
WW2. The very basics.
"Unsettlement: post-1950 AD"
" 25. Cracks in the Plinth"
5/10
Lots about authors - boring. Then some bits about researchers and immigrants and emigrants who made a name for themselves in writing or pop research. A few general points about New Zealand, but much of it could apply to any Western country as with the rest of the book. It feels like such a shallow overview at times that you wonder what parts of the country are culturally unique. Writers who write in English and often live in London are not really at all interesting yet this author feels that these people are what makes New Zealand what it is. What historical buildings or objects exist there? We don't know. The focus is not on history, but rather culture personalities.
"26. Land under Pressure"
6/10
Environment. Bit more about politics. Bit about various progresses in society line TV, airplane travel, the country getting richer.
"27. A Revolution Begun"
5,5/10
A bit more about politics. Then some modernization into a progressive Western country. In these chapters it's basically stuff like: this happened in these decades. It doesn't feel historical anymore and doesn't really give you an overview over New Zealand as you won't remember these politicians anyhow.
"28. Return of Mana Maori"
5,5/10
Maori want and get affirmative action. Again kinda explaining nothing of note as we get no examples of how regular people experience this stuff.
"29. A Revolution Confirmed"
5/10
Modern history.
Posthistory
"30. Configurations Old and New"
5/10
Modern history.
My final opinion on the book
It's a good book and a good intro to New Zealand, but personally I wasn't that interesting in like 40% of the chapters. I feel like this is the type of history book I read the most. The fairly unbiased book where I greatly admire the level of information and the number of details, yet don't really enjoy the audiobook overall. It's just a dry collection of facts often only mentioning a certain idea or person without explaining much about what New Zealand actually is. What I want to know is how people feel, what they work with, how they see themselves in the world. Then I want the basic details about industry, historical events, and cultural institutions. What war took place where? What law came into play where? What sporting events did they follow and what countries do they work with? Basically, what did the newspapers say when and how did people feel about it? I want history books to be an exploration of a culture. It should be an engaging book focused on great and emotional narration to entice me to the culture. Yet this feels like a technical overview not ideal for an audiobook.
It's a ton of info, but you need to present it in a way that makes me, as an outsider, interested in the country. In this aspect the book unfortunately failed. I feel like I missed most of the points and ideas because to me they felt small and insignificant so how can I know what points to focus on in the book? I'm not sure I know that much about New Zealand now. But maybe the book told the real story? The country is just new and therefore doesn't have a rich history? At any rate the writing style could have been more engaging. It's a good book, but you need to be interested in the topic to get the most out of it.
"1. A Land Without People"
6/10
Natural fauna was decimated by humans. Birds species died out because of rats and dogs. Maori killed off big birds while Europeans killed a wide variety of species. Pretty bareboned and doesn't seem like a great intro to outsiders.
"Settlement: to 1850 AD"
"2. Seeds of Rangiatea"
5,5/10
Early settlement. Still pretty hazy and focused on estimates.
"3. The Great New Zealand Myth"
5,5/10
Old myths that are mainly wrong.
"4. Landfall"
5/10
Again technical details about colonization and many various arguments for and against. I didn't remember much of this. It's not good writing. Instead of being a fun journey we get vague assumptions made by some boring researchers. Not a great way to present a country.
"5. First Colonisation"
5/10
Who came to New Zealand first?
"6. Te Ao Maori"
6/10
A bit about how the Maori lived. Pretty fine with some proper explanations.
"7. Distance Perforated"
7/10
Finally getting to history and not just archeology. Much better.
8. The Arrival of Europe
7,5/10
Very good! Cook travels to the area and treats everyone politely. Lots of explorers travel there. The locals are often very savage and violent so the European way of trading with locals to make both groups richer and happier is not something they want to do willingly. Europeans therefore have many reasons to not go there and Maori get to slowly adapt to Europeans. This is a basic overview from when New Zealand was discovered by Hollanders and named after a Holland province till Cook then arrived there 126 year later. By then no tribe was left to remember who the White people were.
"9. Maori Engage the World"
6,5/10
More about the meetings with Europeans and first European settlers.
"10. God and Guns"
6/10
More short stories. No overview yet. The book goes into specific people who did something. So a priest who tried to convert the Maori or some tradesman. All mini stories.
"11. A Treaty"
8,5/10
Britain wants to take over the colony so they send a ship there trying to force their laws on the area. Maori have to sign a document written in a day. They sign off their governorship to Britain, but the document is badly translated and no one knows what it really means.
"12. Tangata Tiriti"
7/10
More small stories.
"13. Tangata Whenua Respond"
7,5/10
Maori start to get more sick from the European diseases. More small stories. Maori start attacking Europeans to regain all their land and power over the land.
"Consolidation: to 1950 AD"
"14. New Settlers Take Control"
6/10
Location names are changed to English.
"15. A Time of Turbulence"
6,5/10
Worse times for Maori. More sickness and decline of population and they lose more areas as their leaders sell it off. Many Maori groups attack Europeans to regain power.
"16. A Functioning Nation?"
8/10
Economy and modernization of the nation.
"17. Maori Lifeways"
8,5/10
Very good. Maori lifestyle. They live in poverty. As their wars are abolished the different tribes focus on other image and group tools to sustain the group structures. They live outside European towns in huts so the whole culture looks different from the European one. They have their own schools, but otherwise have no governmentship like the European towns. There is also a lot of sickness and alcoholism there. They learn English in school. Also, Maori is a word for all the Polynesian tribes there. They are not only single group.
"18. Party Politics Begins"
6,5/10
A bit about how democratic New Zealand always was. The country also becomes much more modern.
"19. Baptism of Blood?"
6/10
New Zealanders help Britain in WW1. The war where millions of men died.
"20. Farmers in Charge"
6/10
Politics. Labor unions strike and attack at times causing deaths. They also gain power in the parliament and Britain wants to give New Zealand independence while New Zealand refuses to become independent. A lot of men mentioned and we are finally presented to famous New Zealanders, all emigrated the nation. But it's dry. The storytelling is not great.
This persistent reluctance to accept the growing independence on offer from Britain has been linked by some historians to a ‘withering of the country’s spirit’. Another symptom of such ‘withering’ has been identified as the exodus of much of the nation’s talent, which went abroad throughout this era in search of more fertile soil in which to flourish. Some of these talented people – the brilliant physicist Ernest Rutherford, for example, the first scientist to split the atom ...
"21. Maori Survival"
6/10
A bit about Maori leaders.
"22. Depression and Recovery"
6/10
Great depression and as always a left-wing government afterwards to increase spending.
"23. Conformity and Non-conformity"
7/10
A bit of a mix. Lots of the boring stuff initially, but the final 30% is great. About sports and other male activities that are shared among Europeans and Maori. Also a bit more about identity overall like race and religion.
Parliamentary Librarian G. H. Scholefield concluded: ‘Maori history is sadly distorted and vitiated by the highly developed tribalism and the intense rivalries of the generations that the Maoris have spent in New Zealand … [The] spirit of tribal pride moves even the broadminded Maori to ignore … the vicissitudes of their own tribes and chiefs.’
"24. At War Again"
6,5/10
WW2. The very basics.
"Unsettlement: post-1950 AD"
" 25. Cracks in the Plinth"
5/10
Lots about authors - boring. Then some bits about researchers and immigrants and emigrants who made a name for themselves in writing or pop research. A few general points about New Zealand, but much of it could apply to any Western country as with the rest of the book. It feels like such a shallow overview at times that you wonder what parts of the country are culturally unique. Writers who write in English and often live in London are not really at all interesting yet this author feels that these people are what makes New Zealand what it is. What historical buildings or objects exist there? We don't know. The focus is not on history, but rather culture personalities.
"26. Land under Pressure"
6/10
Environment. Bit more about politics. Bit about various progresses in society line TV, airplane travel, the country getting richer.
"27. A Revolution Begun"
5,5/10
A bit more about politics. Then some modernization into a progressive Western country. In these chapters it's basically stuff like: this happened in these decades. It doesn't feel historical anymore and doesn't really give you an overview over New Zealand as you won't remember these politicians anyhow.
"28. Return of Mana Maori"
5,5/10
Maori want and get affirmative action. Again kinda explaining nothing of note as we get no examples of how regular people experience this stuff.
"29. A Revolution Confirmed"
5/10
Modern history.
Posthistory
"30. Configurations Old and New"
5/10
Modern history.
My final opinion on the book
It's a good book and a good intro to New Zealand, but personally I wasn't that interesting in like 40% of the chapters. I feel like this is the type of history book I read the most. The fairly unbiased book where I greatly admire the level of information and the number of details, yet don't really enjoy the audiobook overall. It's just a dry collection of facts often only mentioning a certain idea or person without explaining much about what New Zealand actually is. What I want to know is how people feel, what they work with, how they see themselves in the world. Then I want the basic details about industry, historical events, and cultural institutions. What war took place where? What law came into play where? What sporting events did they follow and what countries do they work with? Basically, what did the newspapers say when and how did people feel about it? I want history books to be an exploration of a culture. It should be an engaging book focused on great and emotional narration to entice me to the culture. Yet this feels like a technical overview not ideal for an audiobook.
It's a ton of info, but you need to present it in a way that makes me, as an outsider, interested in the country. In this aspect the book unfortunately failed. I feel like I missed most of the points and ideas because to me they felt small and insignificant so how can I know what points to focus on in the book? I'm not sure I know that much about New Zealand now. But maybe the book told the real story? The country is just new and therefore doesn't have a rich history? At any rate the writing style could have been more engaging. It's a good book, but you need to be interested in the topic to get the most out of it.
May 28, 2022
A leading authority on New Zealand history, Michael King publishes what should be the prime reference for school students in New Zealand interested in learning about how their own country came to be. This book was gifted to me for being the top history student at secondary school, a fitting personal anecdote but also an illustration of how lacking civics education is in New Zealand.
In The Penguin History of New Zealand, King avoids stock-standard ideological lenses but instead adopts an honest frame in recounting key events throughout New Zealand history from pre-contact to the Treaty of Waitangi 1840 and up to the neoliberal reforms of the 1980s. No British revanchism or radical Maori separatism - this work informs all but pleases no party with a vested interest in twisting New Zealand history to suit their contemporary claims.
Pros:
- Structure of the work follows key themes and events with analytical lenses, avoiding the overly dense descriptive nature most historical works tend to follow.
- No overwhelming bias in favor of any side with a vested interest in the New Zealand zeitgeist, which is a refreshing reprieve from historical revisionism.
- Examples and case studies woven into the key themes of the work provide not only an explanation for the past but also lessons for the future.
Cons:
- In trying to achieve balance, King does not discuss or critique the very ideological lenses often taught at the university level about New Zealand history which can be dangerously misleading.
- A number of key events (subject to debate) are glossed over by King, likely for the purposes of brevity including conflicts like the Boer War.
- Work is tailored to inform a general audience and therefore is not entirely suitable for academic inquiry or advanced research.
Rating: 9/10
In The Penguin History of New Zealand, King avoids stock-standard ideological lenses but instead adopts an honest frame in recounting key events throughout New Zealand history from pre-contact to the Treaty of Waitangi 1840 and up to the neoliberal reforms of the 1980s. No British revanchism or radical Maori separatism - this work informs all but pleases no party with a vested interest in twisting New Zealand history to suit their contemporary claims.
Pros:
- Structure of the work follows key themes and events with analytical lenses, avoiding the overly dense descriptive nature most historical works tend to follow.
- No overwhelming bias in favor of any side with a vested interest in the New Zealand zeitgeist, which is a refreshing reprieve from historical revisionism.
- Examples and case studies woven into the key themes of the work provide not only an explanation for the past but also lessons for the future.
Cons:
- In trying to achieve balance, King does not discuss or critique the very ideological lenses often taught at the university level about New Zealand history which can be dangerously misleading.
- A number of key events (subject to debate) are glossed over by King, likely for the purposes of brevity including conflicts like the Boer War.
- Work is tailored to inform a general audience and therefore is not entirely suitable for academic inquiry or advanced research.
Rating: 9/10
August 22, 2018
QUICK PITCH: A quick history of New Zealand, written in layman's terms.
VERDICT: Although it wasn't the most thrilling book I've ever read, this history was exactly what I wanted--a well-written and approachable overview of New Zealand's history for someone coming from a different country.
THINGS TO NOTE:
In some places, the author shifts around in time so he can speak about a specific aspect of history for an entire chapter. Basically, he chooses to focus on a topic (or, often, to focus on either Maori history or Pakeha history) rather than on the straight timeline. This jumping is a bit disorienting the first time, but I preferred the topic-based organization, so I got over the disoriented feeling.
As someone from the US, I found the discussion of the Maori/Pakeha relationship in New Zealand illuminating. The Maori/Pakeha relationship in NZ isn't perfect, but even with its flaws it is still better than than the relationship white people (in particular) have with Native Americans/First Nations people in the US. Hearing about how New Zealand has dealt with that relationship in the modern era was useful to see what the US might do (or avoid doing) in our future.
VERDICT: Although it wasn't the most thrilling book I've ever read, this history was exactly what I wanted--a well-written and approachable overview of New Zealand's history for someone coming from a different country.
THINGS TO NOTE:
In some places, the author shifts around in time so he can speak about a specific aspect of history for an entire chapter. Basically, he chooses to focus on a topic (or, often, to focus on either Maori history or Pakeha history) rather than on the straight timeline. This jumping is a bit disorienting the first time, but I preferred the topic-based organization, so I got over the disoriented feeling.
As someone from the US, I found the discussion of the Maori/Pakeha relationship in New Zealand illuminating. The Maori/Pakeha relationship in NZ isn't perfect, but even with its flaws it is still better than than the relationship white people (in particular) have with Native Americans/First Nations people in the US. Hearing about how New Zealand has dealt with that relationship in the modern era was useful to see what the US might do (or avoid doing) in our future.
January 17, 2016
It's very readable but I was disappointed because it didn't tell me anything i didn't already know. I suppose I was looking for more on the Pakeha-Maori clashes of the 18th & 19th centuries. It is unfair of me to criticise it for superficiality - what did I expect in one volume that attempts to cover the whole history of the country to the present. I need to read more and in greater depth. Any suggestions? my next book will be Making Peoples by James belich, who is quoted quite a bit in this volume.
January 17, 2022
extremely well-written. it manages to be both lucid and comprehensive, covering everything from the arrival of the Maori -- taking in both archaeological and mythological perspectives -- through to the early C21st. a lucky Oxfam find that has served me well both during my recent trip there, and for better appreciating a couple of other books i've been reading recently.
November 17, 2016
So, have the results of the Brexit Referendum and the US Presidential Election made you consider moving to New Zealand?
For those seriously planning to move, it would probably pay to know more about the country you are considering. Michael King’s Penguin History of New Zealand was an immediate success when first published in 2003 and when an illustrated hardcover edition became available, I did not hesitate to grab a copy. As a general overview of New Zealand history, and a popular one, a better introduction would be hard to find.
King begins by describing prehistoric New Zealand; as an isolated collection of very geologically-active islands in a huge ocean. He describes its geological and biological history, its unique and impressive indigenous lifeforms and the mythology of the earliest human occupants. From there, King moves forward covering New Zealand history in roughly chronological order, though with events grouped together to suggest a common theme at work in each period. Beyond this, though, I perceived some greater themes that persist in King’s telling of New Zealand history and it is these themes I would rather share in review than a chapter-by-chapter description of this book.
The first is the sense of finality that accompanies arrival in New Zealand. The pattern of our species’ tendency to move, exploit and then move on, did not come to an end with the discovery of New Zealand but, as the last landmass of its size or greater to be discovered, it is the point at which the pattern literally came full circle. Whether for the Polynesian moving eastward or the later Europeans moving westward, there is a sense of realisation that the Earth is not boundless, its resources are not infinite and there is no large undiscovered land left.
It is a lesson that had to be learned repeatedly and in different forms in New Zealand history. Both the Polynesian settlers who hunted giant Moa to extinction and the first Europeans who decimated seal and whale populations learned too late the cost of unsustainable exploitation. Later, the logging of native timber, the aggressive agriculture, the impact of introduced species taught similar lessons. New Zealand’s small size and lateness of discovery made the effects of these activities inescapable and informed New Zealand’s environmental consciousness.
Perhaps the greatest theme of this book is the sense King creates of there being two New Zealands; one Maori, one Pakeha (indigenous and European New Zealanders respectively). That these two New Zealands existed, initially, quite separately and mostly peacefully, were drawn into conflict and exploitation before taking steps towards coexistence, acknowledgement and reconciliation.
"[Colonisation] proceeded with all the accoutrements implied by the term colonisation: transfer of people from one side of the globe to the other, exploitation of the country’s material resources for the benefit of both settlers and distant investors. In the words of the later Maori High Court Judge, Eddie Durie, tangata whenua, the people of the land, would now be joined by ‘tangata tiriti’, the people whose presence was authorised by the Treaty of Waitangi. And the face of New Zealand life would from that time on be a Janus one, representing at least two cultures and two heritages, very often looking in two different directions."
King portrays Maori as a stoic, pragmatic and entrepreneurial people who adapted to and utilised what Europeans had to offer to suit their own purposes. This is probably best exemplified by the nature of Maori interaction with Christianity where, according to King, Maori did not so much convert as use what Christianity and missionaries offered to their benefit, adopted their own interpretations of the religion, while retaining their previous beliefs as much as possible. Though the arrival of God, guns and germs had enormous impact, to the extent that the culture and people faced possible extinction, King warns against ‘fatal impact’ interpretations and hints at a history that is more complex, varied and, in many ways, mutually beneficial.
Much of King’s work in his early career was devoted to Maori culture, history and biography. This book benefits from his devotion to those subjects and is one of its strongest points. King’s description of Maori lifeways after the colonial era, like the rest of the book, is divided into sections of commonality. He describes a phase of Maori existence in the early 20th century that is rural and independent but separated and unsustainable. After the World Wars, he describes a period of transition that saw greater urbanisation in search of new opportunities but also faced prejudice, conflict and the loss of identity and supporting social structures. From there came a political awakening and an overcoming of tribal difference in favour of stronger national unity that continues to evolve, improve the lives of Maori and make New Zealand more unified, coinciding with a new Pakeha identity that was distinctly New Zealand, no longer British and placed greater value on Maori culture.
"Maori is the foundation human culture of the land, the first repository of its namings and its histories and its songs; and it is the culture of the people who have, for as long as they want it, a special relationship with the Government of New Zealand via the Treaty of Waitangi. […] The fact is that the Treaty of Waitangi is still unmistakably there after more than 160 years, and its significance and relevance are ensured by both the Maori insistence that the document mediates a living relationship between Maori and the Crown, and by the majority Pakeha view that this constitutes an appropriate stance for the country to take."
A question I’ve always had about New Zealand’s history is why the colonial experience was so different from that of other lands. Why, for example, did something like the Treaty of Waitangi occur in New Zealand when it did not in North or South America, Australia, Southern Africa or India? My opinion, uninformed, was that it was because of New Zealand’s late discovery and development as well as the qualities of the colonists attracted to move there; that New Zealand is a post-Enlightenment country with relatively less of the cultural baggage of the past. Though it is not a question King is seeking to answer in this mostly inward-looking book, there are some hints.
One comes from the convictions of Captain James Cook who King describes as a man determined to be an enlightened leader, who believed in no right to occupation without consent and was taught to regard indigenous people as equals. Another comes from the early Protestant mission in New Zealand which contained prominent abolitionists, motivated to persuade Maori to drop the practice of slavery at a time when this was still an unresolved issue if not against orthodoxy elsewhere in Christendom. Another comes from the period where immigration from Britain rose significantly. King describes the new arrivals as keen to leave behind the prejudices and preconceptions of social class, religious sectarianism, race and gender of their birth country.
"Up until the war years, most visitors who commented on religious affairs in New Zealand had been struck by the lack of the sectarianism – especially Protestant versus Catholic antagonism – that was so pronounced in Britain, the United States and Australia."
King also describes the New Zealand of the late-19th-early-20th century as one with a reputation as a ‘social laboratory’. Universal Suffrage was achieved first in New Zealand in 1893 along with many other firsts for women. There were also innovations in the welfare state, pensions, state housing, national parks, seats in Parliament for Maori, a Native Land Court, etc. Many of the 1% of landowners, who owned 64% of the freehold land, voluntarily broke up their estates. New Zealanders enjoyed one of the highest living standards in the world and were beginning to make a mark outside of the country. William Pember Reeves, a Labour Minister of the time said:
"[The reforms] were the outcome of a belief that a young democratic country, still almost free from extremes of wealth and poverty, from class hatreds and fears and the barriers these create, supplies an unequalled field for safe and rational experiment in the hope of preventing and shutting out some of the worst social evils and miseries which afflict great nations alike in the old world and the new."
I should say at this point that King is not one of those Niall Ferguson type historians, eager to credit the past for predicting and delivering the virtues of the present, ignoring that this conclusion is only reached with the benefit of hindsight. King is more inclined towards the Jared Diamond type who sees present conditions as the result of past conditions; somewhat accidental, somewhat inevitable, but rarely intentional. For example, King describes the Treaty of Waitangi as neither the firm foundation for the construction of a state nor the blueprint for relations between the colonial government and an indigenous people. But it served a purpose at the time and paved the way for governance of the country as a whole. And though Women’s Suffrage was first achieved in New Zealand, it did so with little active support and the aims that motivated those who supported it did not come to pass. King also wonders whether New Zealand would have survived its long depression of the second-half of the 19th century if it was not for the fortunate coincidence of refrigeration and a British market for New Zealand goods.
There are other cultural themes that persist through this book to enjoy but I can’t devote any more time to them here. One is the ‘bushman’ ethos of Crusoe-like individual survival in the wilderness against the elements by grit and innovation that began in frontier times but persists in evolved forms. Another is a strong sense of ‘double patriotism’ that saw eager New Zealand participation in Britain’s wars and the impact that had on New Zealand society, which makes the Iraq refusal even more marked. There is also an acknowledgement, even from frontier times, that, due to NZ’s smallness and geographic isolation, the country’s prosperity would be determined by access to larger markets. Though free trade agreements remain a hard sell to the NZ public, when well negotiated and managed they bring with them a security that could not be achieved otherwise. This book, of course, contains much more; national and international events and important personages; but I will have to leave my thoughts on its contents and recurring themes here.
I am glad I bought the illustrated version of this book as the pictures add considerably to the story. Also, one minor point I enjoyed was the colour scheme used in the book – stony grey, army green and brown, dark teal, dark gold. Though used sparingly, it is very New Zealand.
I was a little disappointed that King states in his introduction that he has written this book for Pakeha and Maori New Zealanders. Given that a lot of New Zealander are neither (nearly 20% identify as either Asian or Pacific Peoples) it is a little disappointing but, if it was not for that comment, I don’t think the book noticeably suffers from any exclusive focus. The book could certainly use a glossary. Although most Maori terms are explained when introduced, their frequent use means a glossary would be helpful for the unfamiliar.
Perhaps the biggest criticism that could be levelled at this book is that it is oversimplified, perhaps even to the extent of being revisionist. New Zealand may be a young country, but there is certainly more sophistication to its history, more nuance to events and issues, than this book may suggest. Some events and individuals, if not omitted, are dealt with too swiftly. Another issue is that, given the thematic structure of the book and overlapping timespans, King repeats himself frequently and probably unnecessarily. This discrete thematic structure also contributes to the impression of simplification. A more strictly chronological history would provide a more realistic view, though, perhaps at the expense of readability or providing overview.
I think it is best to recall what this book is and what it set out to achieve. It is a general history and an overview. King stresses in his preface that this is not an attempt to be encyclopedic, nor is this a book aimed at academics but to the general reader. As such, I believe the pertinent questions are whether it achieves its overview and inspires the reader to dig further. I believe it does. I for one will be seeking biographies of Captain Cook and some early New Zealand Prime Ministers, novels I had not heard of before as well as histories of some periods of New Zealand history I would like to know more about. This is in addition to the more easily found books on New Zealand’s participation in the two World Wars and novels by better-known New Zealand writers that I have been neglecting for far too long.
The past is a foreign country and I wonder if reading of New Zealands of the past gives New Zealanders any moments of pause. For me, it feels pretty clear that New Zealand is no longer a leader in social experimentation. That crown may now belong to Scandinavian countries with their extensive healthcare systems, free education, environmental policies and unimaginable prisons with their low recidivism rates. What we might learn from such countries are the themes of Andrew Scott’s book Northern Lights and Michael Moore’s film Where to Invade Next; made for Australian and American audiences respectively. I am not aware of something made for a NZ audience but I think one could be (excuse the pun) enlightening.
As for the question of whether NZ will have something similar to a Brexit or a Trump in next year’s election, King’s final paragraph in his History of New Zealand has a thought:
"Most New Zealanders, whatever their cultural backgrounds, are good-hearted, practical, commonsensical and tolerant. Those qualities are part of the national cultural capital that has in the past saved the country from the worst excesses of chauvinism and racism seen in other parts of the world. They are as sound a basis as any for optimism about the country’s future."
For the full review, see: https://weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/20...
For those seriously planning to move, it would probably pay to know more about the country you are considering. Michael King’s Penguin History of New Zealand was an immediate success when first published in 2003 and when an illustrated hardcover edition became available, I did not hesitate to grab a copy. As a general overview of New Zealand history, and a popular one, a better introduction would be hard to find.
King begins by describing prehistoric New Zealand; as an isolated collection of very geologically-active islands in a huge ocean. He describes its geological and biological history, its unique and impressive indigenous lifeforms and the mythology of the earliest human occupants. From there, King moves forward covering New Zealand history in roughly chronological order, though with events grouped together to suggest a common theme at work in each period. Beyond this, though, I perceived some greater themes that persist in King’s telling of New Zealand history and it is these themes I would rather share in review than a chapter-by-chapter description of this book.
The first is the sense of finality that accompanies arrival in New Zealand. The pattern of our species’ tendency to move, exploit and then move on, did not come to an end with the discovery of New Zealand but, as the last landmass of its size or greater to be discovered, it is the point at which the pattern literally came full circle. Whether for the Polynesian moving eastward or the later Europeans moving westward, there is a sense of realisation that the Earth is not boundless, its resources are not infinite and there is no large undiscovered land left.
It is a lesson that had to be learned repeatedly and in different forms in New Zealand history. Both the Polynesian settlers who hunted giant Moa to extinction and the first Europeans who decimated seal and whale populations learned too late the cost of unsustainable exploitation. Later, the logging of native timber, the aggressive agriculture, the impact of introduced species taught similar lessons. New Zealand’s small size and lateness of discovery made the effects of these activities inescapable and informed New Zealand’s environmental consciousness.
Perhaps the greatest theme of this book is the sense King creates of there being two New Zealands; one Maori, one Pakeha (indigenous and European New Zealanders respectively). That these two New Zealands existed, initially, quite separately and mostly peacefully, were drawn into conflict and exploitation before taking steps towards coexistence, acknowledgement and reconciliation.
"[Colonisation] proceeded with all the accoutrements implied by the term colonisation: transfer of people from one side of the globe to the other, exploitation of the country’s material resources for the benefit of both settlers and distant investors. In the words of the later Maori High Court Judge, Eddie Durie, tangata whenua, the people of the land, would now be joined by ‘tangata tiriti’, the people whose presence was authorised by the Treaty of Waitangi. And the face of New Zealand life would from that time on be a Janus one, representing at least two cultures and two heritages, very often looking in two different directions."
King portrays Maori as a stoic, pragmatic and entrepreneurial people who adapted to and utilised what Europeans had to offer to suit their own purposes. This is probably best exemplified by the nature of Maori interaction with Christianity where, according to King, Maori did not so much convert as use what Christianity and missionaries offered to their benefit, adopted their own interpretations of the religion, while retaining their previous beliefs as much as possible. Though the arrival of God, guns and germs had enormous impact, to the extent that the culture and people faced possible extinction, King warns against ‘fatal impact’ interpretations and hints at a history that is more complex, varied and, in many ways, mutually beneficial.
Much of King’s work in his early career was devoted to Maori culture, history and biography. This book benefits from his devotion to those subjects and is one of its strongest points. King’s description of Maori lifeways after the colonial era, like the rest of the book, is divided into sections of commonality. He describes a phase of Maori existence in the early 20th century that is rural and independent but separated and unsustainable. After the World Wars, he describes a period of transition that saw greater urbanisation in search of new opportunities but also faced prejudice, conflict and the loss of identity and supporting social structures. From there came a political awakening and an overcoming of tribal difference in favour of stronger national unity that continues to evolve, improve the lives of Maori and make New Zealand more unified, coinciding with a new Pakeha identity that was distinctly New Zealand, no longer British and placed greater value on Maori culture.
"Maori is the foundation human culture of the land, the first repository of its namings and its histories and its songs; and it is the culture of the people who have, for as long as they want it, a special relationship with the Government of New Zealand via the Treaty of Waitangi. […] The fact is that the Treaty of Waitangi is still unmistakably there after more than 160 years, and its significance and relevance are ensured by both the Maori insistence that the document mediates a living relationship between Maori and the Crown, and by the majority Pakeha view that this constitutes an appropriate stance for the country to take."
A question I’ve always had about New Zealand’s history is why the colonial experience was so different from that of other lands. Why, for example, did something like the Treaty of Waitangi occur in New Zealand when it did not in North or South America, Australia, Southern Africa or India? My opinion, uninformed, was that it was because of New Zealand’s late discovery and development as well as the qualities of the colonists attracted to move there; that New Zealand is a post-Enlightenment country with relatively less of the cultural baggage of the past. Though it is not a question King is seeking to answer in this mostly inward-looking book, there are some hints.
One comes from the convictions of Captain James Cook who King describes as a man determined to be an enlightened leader, who believed in no right to occupation without consent and was taught to regard indigenous people as equals. Another comes from the early Protestant mission in New Zealand which contained prominent abolitionists, motivated to persuade Maori to drop the practice of slavery at a time when this was still an unresolved issue if not against orthodoxy elsewhere in Christendom. Another comes from the period where immigration from Britain rose significantly. King describes the new arrivals as keen to leave behind the prejudices and preconceptions of social class, religious sectarianism, race and gender of their birth country.
"Up until the war years, most visitors who commented on religious affairs in New Zealand had been struck by the lack of the sectarianism – especially Protestant versus Catholic antagonism – that was so pronounced in Britain, the United States and Australia."
King also describes the New Zealand of the late-19th-early-20th century as one with a reputation as a ‘social laboratory’. Universal Suffrage was achieved first in New Zealand in 1893 along with many other firsts for women. There were also innovations in the welfare state, pensions, state housing, national parks, seats in Parliament for Maori, a Native Land Court, etc. Many of the 1% of landowners, who owned 64% of the freehold land, voluntarily broke up their estates. New Zealanders enjoyed one of the highest living standards in the world and were beginning to make a mark outside of the country. William Pember Reeves, a Labour Minister of the time said:
"[The reforms] were the outcome of a belief that a young democratic country, still almost free from extremes of wealth and poverty, from class hatreds and fears and the barriers these create, supplies an unequalled field for safe and rational experiment in the hope of preventing and shutting out some of the worst social evils and miseries which afflict great nations alike in the old world and the new."
I should say at this point that King is not one of those Niall Ferguson type historians, eager to credit the past for predicting and delivering the virtues of the present, ignoring that this conclusion is only reached with the benefit of hindsight. King is more inclined towards the Jared Diamond type who sees present conditions as the result of past conditions; somewhat accidental, somewhat inevitable, but rarely intentional. For example, King describes the Treaty of Waitangi as neither the firm foundation for the construction of a state nor the blueprint for relations between the colonial government and an indigenous people. But it served a purpose at the time and paved the way for governance of the country as a whole. And though Women’s Suffrage was first achieved in New Zealand, it did so with little active support and the aims that motivated those who supported it did not come to pass. King also wonders whether New Zealand would have survived its long depression of the second-half of the 19th century if it was not for the fortunate coincidence of refrigeration and a British market for New Zealand goods.
There are other cultural themes that persist through this book to enjoy but I can’t devote any more time to them here. One is the ‘bushman’ ethos of Crusoe-like individual survival in the wilderness against the elements by grit and innovation that began in frontier times but persists in evolved forms. Another is a strong sense of ‘double patriotism’ that saw eager New Zealand participation in Britain’s wars and the impact that had on New Zealand society, which makes the Iraq refusal even more marked. There is also an acknowledgement, even from frontier times, that, due to NZ’s smallness and geographic isolation, the country’s prosperity would be determined by access to larger markets. Though free trade agreements remain a hard sell to the NZ public, when well negotiated and managed they bring with them a security that could not be achieved otherwise. This book, of course, contains much more; national and international events and important personages; but I will have to leave my thoughts on its contents and recurring themes here.
I am glad I bought the illustrated version of this book as the pictures add considerably to the story. Also, one minor point I enjoyed was the colour scheme used in the book – stony grey, army green and brown, dark teal, dark gold. Though used sparingly, it is very New Zealand.
I was a little disappointed that King states in his introduction that he has written this book for Pakeha and Maori New Zealanders. Given that a lot of New Zealander are neither (nearly 20% identify as either Asian or Pacific Peoples) it is a little disappointing but, if it was not for that comment, I don’t think the book noticeably suffers from any exclusive focus. The book could certainly use a glossary. Although most Maori terms are explained when introduced, their frequent use means a glossary would be helpful for the unfamiliar.
Perhaps the biggest criticism that could be levelled at this book is that it is oversimplified, perhaps even to the extent of being revisionist. New Zealand may be a young country, but there is certainly more sophistication to its history, more nuance to events and issues, than this book may suggest. Some events and individuals, if not omitted, are dealt with too swiftly. Another issue is that, given the thematic structure of the book and overlapping timespans, King repeats himself frequently and probably unnecessarily. This discrete thematic structure also contributes to the impression of simplification. A more strictly chronological history would provide a more realistic view, though, perhaps at the expense of readability or providing overview.
I think it is best to recall what this book is and what it set out to achieve. It is a general history and an overview. King stresses in his preface that this is not an attempt to be encyclopedic, nor is this a book aimed at academics but to the general reader. As such, I believe the pertinent questions are whether it achieves its overview and inspires the reader to dig further. I believe it does. I for one will be seeking biographies of Captain Cook and some early New Zealand Prime Ministers, novels I had not heard of before as well as histories of some periods of New Zealand history I would like to know more about. This is in addition to the more easily found books on New Zealand’s participation in the two World Wars and novels by better-known New Zealand writers that I have been neglecting for far too long.
The past is a foreign country and I wonder if reading of New Zealands of the past gives New Zealanders any moments of pause. For me, it feels pretty clear that New Zealand is no longer a leader in social experimentation. That crown may now belong to Scandinavian countries with their extensive healthcare systems, free education, environmental policies and unimaginable prisons with their low recidivism rates. What we might learn from such countries are the themes of Andrew Scott’s book Northern Lights and Michael Moore’s film Where to Invade Next; made for Australian and American audiences respectively. I am not aware of something made for a NZ audience but I think one could be (excuse the pun) enlightening.
As for the question of whether NZ will have something similar to a Brexit or a Trump in next year’s election, King’s final paragraph in his History of New Zealand has a thought:
"Most New Zealanders, whatever their cultural backgrounds, are good-hearted, practical, commonsensical and tolerant. Those qualities are part of the national cultural capital that has in the past saved the country from the worst excesses of chauvinism and racism seen in other parts of the world. They are as sound a basis as any for optimism about the country’s future."
For the full review, see: https://weneedtotalkaboutbooks.com/20...
January 30, 2020
This book impressed me, considering that I was able to finish a 500 page history of a country I’ve never even been too! I think that speaks to the open, inviting style of Michael King and accessible the book was. It did get more bogged down towards the middle and the end, name dropping authors, artists and politicians that I was obviously supposed to have heard of (probably would’ve if I was a New Zealander) but never had. I also find politics and governance to be less interesting than natural history and other subjects. On the other hand, the first half of the book, I felt like I kept saying to friends “did you know...?” about things I was reading. Fascinating and very well presented.
February 18, 2021
Amazingly written and covered. Gives you a good general understanding of where this young nation sits in the world, and why despite that the human history of NZ is short, there is much to learn from. A young but very self-aware and proud player in the global arena.
We can’t change history but we must learn from it.
And reading history you’re reminded of how everything we do has consequences as individuals, as tribes, as subcultures and as nations. You’re reminded there isn’t much you can change about the past, but you can also create a better history for those in the future to look back on.
What a book. Highly recommended.
We can’t change history but we must learn from it.
And reading history you’re reminded of how everything we do has consequences as individuals, as tribes, as subcultures and as nations. You’re reminded there isn’t much you can change about the past, but you can also create a better history for those in the future to look back on.
What a book. Highly recommended.
August 19, 2021
Historical narration of pre-pakeha arrival into new zealand and their relationship with Maori. Also details insights to the colonial war hero mindset through the wars. Tad too much political and governmental recall which is less relevant for the foreign reader
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 28, 2018
Wish I could time travel back and give this book to my naive, ignorant sixteen year old self.
Super cool.
Super cool.
May 3, 2019
This book was a surprisingly easy read, considering it's the history of an entire country. I had a bit of trouble in the 20th century, but who doesn't.
October 11, 2022
Excellent. Loved every minute.
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December 14, 2023Kia Ora!! I feel slightly more prepared to go to New Zealand 🇳🇿
August 20, 2021
Really good. Sought to be fair. Helped me understand a lot about my own country. Now there's a whole bunch of his recommended reading that I'm keen to have a look at.
September 8, 2023
I really enjoyed listening to this on audio. As a Kiwi, it was amazing hearing the narrative of my country's history and being able to put pieces together and also get more historical context for my Kiwi/British great greats. The content is fascinating. The narrative is easy to follow. Really enjoyable read! 😄
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