New Zealand Books

..a wife in Australia, a little luck in the Otago Goldfields and eventually a lively pub and many children. When his children marry, many choose to remain in the district and before long they are sporting rugby teams full of Sopers!

Live and Let Live is a non fiction work that through the eyes of a large family in a small community, looks at farming, rugby, goldmining and life in Northern Southland, New Zealand (in the far south) over the last 120 years.

At the beginning of the book, Lyndel talks about travelling back to England to search for the origins of the family name and to establish if other branches have broken away to make a new life in other countries as well.

There is a large family tree listing everyone born in New Zealand since W.D Soper first set foot there. In addition the book is packed with family pics, I'd guess around a hundred in all.

I've been to NZ once; returning there in couple of months because I like it SO much. Bought this book as am toying with permanently relocating to NZ; but so far, have to say this book has not met my high expectations of being helpful. A lot of data but not presented in a fashion to be chronologically useful in one's formulating a plan of attack on HOW to get there (given all the bureaucracy one must endure and prevail thru, to emigrate to NZ). Maybe by time I finish the book I'll change my mind? but problem is, I'm finding myself less and less motivated to continue reading it...

Leon Oberg has brought out the fourth edition of his classic works, "Locomotives of Australia" and if anything, it is an improvement on an already excellent book. This not only provides details on the very latest locomotives to be introduced on the various railroads of Australia over the last ten years, in addition to those already in the earlier edition, but includes many colour photographs as well, which add to the overall quality of the book. Also, I do not remember the section on the "Shays" in the last edition and believe it is an addition here. Undobtedly, this is one of the best books on locomotives anywhere, giving fascinating details and technical information on so many locomotives, from the first days of railways in Australia right up to the present day. This book should find a fitting place on the book shelf of any railway enthusiast not just in Australia, but all over the world.

Uday Peeligama
Sydney
Australia

An excellent review of how things went wrong in the 1987 Stock market crash in New Zealand - covering the fall from grace of many NZ 1980's iconic companies - the book tells the poignant story of how one error was compounded by government misdirection and how a chain reaction of of collapse occured throughout 1987-90. The final chapters are indicative of the impotency that Newland and his colleagues faced when betrayed by merciless bankers who were former friends.
What then, makes this story any better than other tales of the "glory days" in NZ? Mr Newland's courage should be noted - he has little hesitation in apportioning blame on himself where it is due - certainly he castigates himself in one area where he was "suckered" by a business opponent suffering from a terminal illness. Olly called off the hostile takeover, and the opponent staged a full recovery. Needless to say, Mr Newland did not let the same mistake happen again.
I personally found the final page to be a blueprint for modern business practices - and of economic intelligence - 4 simple tips that had Olly himself followed (in hindsight - few others did in the glory days of the 1980's), he and his kin would now be enjoying the wealth that they had so well accumulated pre-crash

This is the epitome of New Zealand books, if pictures are sought after. I have searched for a good "picture" book on the country for a while now, and this book was a GREAT find! Not text heavy, the book is a nice, light viewing of a faraway, beautiful land. Gorgeous pictures, brief synopsis for each, and a short but insightful preface make this a wonderful book to keep for a reminder that there are still some truly wonderous places on this earth!

James Belich is probably now the definitive New Zealand historian, with a strong grasp of both Mäori and pakeha (New Zealand decendants of Europeans) perspectives. This account of New Zealand's history up to the mid-to late 19th century is both informative and interesting.

Not everyone will agree with all of his interpretations, but they are always challenging and well argued as well as being a genuinely good read.

Rosser does a good job presenting the results of a series of related studies and discussing the implications of their findings, especially in their broader context.

Phillips attempts to trace the history and shifts of how New Zealanders believe their white male members should act and think. His history moves from the pioneer days of the late 1800s to the 1980s when progessive Kiwis were protesting rugby games against South Africa. This book focuses on men's relationships with male friends, war, rugby, the temperance movement, and the gendered division of labor. I learned much about New Zealand, as an American. In partincular, I learned that American cowboys and pioneers didn't stop westward in California; some actually sailded to NZ. Phillips does a great job in showing the catch-22 of stereotypes. On the one hand, men were encouraged to drink with "mates", but on the other, they are supposed to be responsible family men. They are encouraged to go to war, yet they uphold fallacies that all soldiers are gentlemen. The author purposely titles his book with a question rathen than a sentence fragment. His point is to interrogate how individuals are forced to live up to an idea and that many are excluded from that ideal from the start. This book was filled with interesting quotes and pictures. This was a great mix of sociology and history. Anyone interested in men's studies will love this book. Though Phillips is clearly a liberal, I think men of all political persuasions would find useful information and analysis in this book.

This book is amazing in that it was produced years before the critical white studies movement emerged in the United States. I think all those who are trying to study whiteness as ethnography should read this, especially Americans reading it from a comparative perspective. Still, to an extent I wish the movement began before Phillips wrote his book because he could have benefitted from those academics' insights.

Phillips resists Eurocentricity by refusing to assume that what white men are expected to do is the same as what Maori men are expected to do. Both the author and I wish that a book on Maori masculinity would be written. The little info he includes about Maoris is quite informative. Still, I must critique him for not mentioning more. Phillips details extensively how Kiwi men differentiated themselves from Brits and Aussies, and to a small extent Americans, yet, he says little of how they did so with Maoris. In the US, many white men don't notice their race until a person of color walks into the room. I am almost sure that New Zealand whites must think similarly. If New Zealander men defined themselves by their participation in wars with Maoris than being different from Maoris must play a huge role in that image. Phillips fails to mention any of this. From what I hear, New Zealand whites are struggling with xenophobia as the number of Asian and Middle Eastern citizens increase, just like Australia and the US. Phillips doesn't touch these issues. In many ways, that lack of analysis made the book incomplete. The Maori exclusion here is not racist at all; but it's still unsatisfying.

Similarly, women could have been brought up more. They are only in the last paragraph. In the beginning, Phillips states that Kiwi manhood was shaped by the gender imbalance against women. Still, he never discusses if that put New Zealand women in an advantagous position compared to their sisters in the United Kingdom or Canada. Kiwi men are mentioned as "shaggers" and fathers, but rarely as men invested in loving women.

This book is structured chronologically but it has a huge section on war smacked in the middle. I believe Phillips would have been better dividing the books into parts, not just chapters. The last chapter is the most interesting, but also the most predictable. Phillips initials all the men's names in this book and that makes it more difficult for scholars and readers who may want to investigate his sources. Sometimes the book is repetitive and it feels like few sources are used. However, Phillips put much effort into this book and it shows honorably.

I am sure that the author's first name is an Anglicization of the common French male name "Jacques." Nevertheless, it's funny reading a book on manhood by a guy whose name is jock (an American term for a male athlete). The cover has cheesy cartoons of men and typically masculine tools. I am sure the author played no or little role in the cover design, but it still makes the book look less serious than it actually is. You might think it's a romance novel rather than historical non-fiction, if you didn't read someo of the work.

I'm critical, but I loved this book. I definitely recommend it to all.

This is a study of ancient Maori musical tradition and knowledge, and an exploration of the impact of European music on this tradition. It draws on diverse written and oral sources, and includes some 1300 recorded songs, interviews with singers and numerous eyewitness accounts.

McLean went all over New Zealand with a Grundig tape recorder in the 1950s and recorded over 800 tribal songs. He seems to have spent the next 40 years analysing those tapes and building on the knowledge he gained.

There are lots of interesting anecdotes as well as musicological information. It is well illustrated with many musical examples. 480 pages.

Mervyn McLean was until recently an associate professor of Ethnomusicology and head of the Archive of Maori and Pacific Music at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

A lavishly illustrated and extremely well-written mini-guide to the British Museum's Maori collection. The essays are written by both Maori and Pakeha scholars, and use of Maori terms is liberal throughout -- and these terms are well explained. Wow!