New Zealand Books

I read these books many years ago and found them moving, perhaps 'The Sword and the Blossom' the most moving. This, the third book, attempts to understand the Japanese character as it was experienced by the POWs. It's not pretty, but it is necessary if you want to try to come to grips with quite a lot of the meanings behind the Pacific theatre of WWII.

Parkin's writing is well-balanced, as pointed out. The brutality, sadism and all the other things can't be hidden. Parkin wrestles with the complexity of the Japanese psyche in the war. The POWs are men in extreme situations. Some may not act as well as they may have liked, but Parkin doesn't judge them: who could? There are quietly heroic acts that just seem 'normal', but Parkin doesn't make a big deal about it.

What shines through is the author's humanity. In spite of the brutality, he can appreciate the people he meets, the world around him (e.g. 'the coruscating sea'), and capture it in his sketches.

The novels were first published in London in the 1960's, the author himself stating it took this long for him to take a balanced view of the things he saw as a sailor during war and as a prisoner of war under the Japanese. His hand drawn pictures in these works were made whilst in Custody under threat of execution if seized.

Before the war, PARKIN was a professional sailor, after the war he studied as a classical artist, and worked on the wharfs of Melbourne as a tally clerk.

This description meets his works, his love of the sea, his artwork throughout the works, his beautiful descriptions, and his exacting detail.

The first novel is of a shipwreck survivor, it doesn't show it, but he is the hero portrait, it is a TRUE story. The second is a diary of his captivity on the Burma railway, and the third of his captivity in Japan, including the dropping of the A-Bomb. 'He states that a newspaper dropped in by air to Japan when he was first released has three momentous events, atomic weapons, jet propulsion and ball point pens'.

His works are not bitter, if anything appreciative of having lived a life less fortunate. Very Australian in it's style and language, it is as moving as any of the recognized greats. I will not wax lyrical about its style further, the editorials above do so far more eloquently than I could.

In Bronwyn Tate's splendid novel, Russian Dolls, we are introduced to a generations of a New Zealand family stemming back to 1868 as a woman of today uncovers the tale of her maiden great aunt and a soldier in World War I. In the course of her research, Isla finds other family stories, against which her own experience since she rancorously left her family's home at the age of seventeen reverberates. In Russian Dolls, the landscapes are as important as the people, taking the reader from a quiet rural valley to the trenches of war-torn Europe, and closing on a Nelson beach where "the sea crept in and out across the sand flats" and the lines between sea and sky is invisible. Russian Dolls is an original and superbly sophisticated and engaging novel from first to last.

In Bronwyn Tate's splendid novel, Russian Dolls, we are introduced to a generations of a New Zealand family stemming back to 1868 as a woman of today uncovers the tale of her maiden great aunt and a soldier in World War I. In the course of her research, Isla finds other family stories, against which her own experience since she rancorously left her family's home at the age of seventeen reverberates. In Russian Dolls, the landscapes are as important as the people, taking the reader from a quiet rural valley to the trenches of war-torn Europe, and closing on a Nelson beach where "the sea crept in and out across the sand flats" and the lines between sea and sky is invisible. Russian Dolls is an original and superbly sophisticated and engaging novel from first to last.

This is a Volume I of a two-volume set.

I saw this two-volume book first time in Apia, the capitol city of Samoa. It was the hard copy edition presented in a show case of the Rainforest Restaurant, whose owners were two historians working passionately on a creation of a small museum of Samoan Art and culture of Samoa. I was astonished about the amount of details in this book. The more astonished I was, as I saw how many well situated Samoans were visiting the Swiss/German couple to consult this book regarding their genealogy and heritage! This source might just as well prove predecessors in old Samoan ruling nobility or even... a divine origin!

For a contemporary reader Krämer's book might be a difficult lecture though. Krämer brings together facts and legends. Parts of the text are written in Samoan, and sometimes I could not find out any specific rule for the switching between the German and Samoan languages. Fortunately, mostly one page is in Samoan, and the opposite page is in English, like a Roseta Stone of a kind! The translator of the book, Dr. Verhaaren, remarks in his foreword that Krämer was somewhat inconsistent in his spelling of Samoan words.

In my opinion Krämer created a great documentary, but he was not a good writer. The great amount of details, which Krämer by himself often calls just a hearsay, have probably a great value for scholars or lovers of Polynesian mystique, but they might only confuse casual reader. Nevertheless he seems to be very careful about differentiation between facts and rumors.

One of the interesting aspects of this book are the details about the travels, marriages and wars between Samoans, Tongans and even the Melanesian Fijians. Many contemporary families on Samoa know through these reports that their heritage reaches hundreds of miles apart from Samoa. Samoans were splendid navigators and they undertook numerous long distance voyages. There was a good reason that Samoa earned the name "Navigator Islands" after being discovered by Europeans. Unfortunately, the contemporary Islanders lost solely their ability to navigate on the open Ocean over such distances.

The book contains a large number of beautiful photographs of Samoan people, and of the entire Samoa from the colonial period, in which Great Britain, USA and Germany were still quite friendly nations "negotiating" their spheres of influence in the Pacific. As you might know, Samoa is still a divided country and the American sponsored government in Pago Pago tries to deepen the differences between the Samoans on the neighboring Islands. They feel very cozy in their present arrangement, and so they try to prevent a reunification. It is fascinating to see in this book the Samoa as it once was, a one entity.

This book is a fascinating "must have" collectible for scholars, passionate off road travelers, and everyone else looking for island nostalgia. The publisher, Hawaii Press, made a great effort to provide splendid quality of typesetting and print.

My only regret is that we wait for so many years for a matching release of the Volume II!

The price is right. Get this book!

This is a comprehensive and interesting exposition on the history of Samoa.

It is a privilege that it is now available in English so that the information can be more widely read.

The British Special Air Service is one of the most highly trained military forces in the world, but they shroud their training, team selection and operations in complete mystery.

The book mentions a lot of acts of terrorism incidents in the 20th Century, from plane hijackings, bombings, embassy takeovers to the massacre of the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972. The book also shows one of the favoured weapons of the SAS, the MP5 submachine gun.

I really enjoy military handbooks, because I believe conflict can change the world. Look at the Vietnam War: the conflict made the country better than it was after the Second World War. Vietnam now has good food, beautiful countryside that is safe to travel and many enjoyable activities like cross-country tours.

Check out the website: vietnamtourism.com

Robert Franck

This book is the best book I have ever read on special operations and includes a indepth analysis of the selection, training, weapons, lands, water and air roles, counter terrorism, hearts and minds and operational tactcis. This book is about the SAS but has a overall review of the world's elite. It's excellent

I was reading this book on a visit to NZ, flying from Los Angeles to Auckland. This put Smithy's epic adventures in a new light...as a commercial pilot myself, I could start (just start)to appreciate the problems they encountered, let alone the fear they must have felt... An excellent book, well researched, and as the review states, "not a dull page in the book". Well done Ian.

While i confess to not having read any other books on Sir Charles, I have an appreciation of sorts through the many Smithy stories i had grown up with. My father had worked at Brisbane airport where the Southern Cross stands today and as a boy i recall him telling me Smithy stories as we walked around the old plane. Naturally, 70 odd years after the epic flight, traffic streams past and no one gives it a second glance (although oddly this amazing historical icon is almost hidden from view). I wonder how many young Australians today know who this man is and what he contributed to world aviation.

This book offered a smorgasboard of adventure and excitement and really does put into perspective the amazing feats this man accomplished. It also shows to us a character that was flawed in many ways. Smithy is portrayed as being reckless, selfish and irresponsible and yet also often displayed amazing courage, determination and humour. The book seems factually thorough while continues to flow nicely and is really an entertaining read.

This book would provide an ideal starting point for a film, that could further document and publicise, not only Smithy but all those other early aviation pioneers. Just so many amazing flights amidst so much danger and often so much fun.

A great story of a legend from a time when you really had to do something to earn that epithet.

I've never found a more thorough study and comparison of sperm whale diet and conservation to date, and I have studied both in great depth for a number of years. Gomez-Villota presents valuable data and research only available when copious amounts of work and labor have been spent on the subjects at hand. Though at times it would be a bit much for someone unfamiliar with the technical rhetoric of the field, I believe this resource will be extremely helpful for many years to come. Gomez-Villota really performs here with this valuable resource on sperm whale diet and the conservation implications connected with it.

This research was clearly performed by a very educated man. The findings on the Sperm Whale Diets in New Zealand are remarkable in comparison to those of the 1960s. Fascinating results on those Sperm whales found with oceanic squid from the families Histioteuthidae, Cranchiidae, Onychoteuthidae and Octopoteuthida remains in their stomachs. I would suggest this book to educators, students and the general public. I'd buy this book for $112! Well done Felipe Gomez-Villota.

This is a wonderful book, a true story about a man who rose from humble beginnings (nearly starving and walking through a desert to find work) who rose to lead his State in crises and then became a major and respected international Statesman. Sir Hal Colebatch's story should be more widely known, for it casts light on many forgotten aspects of Australia's history before, during and after the Second World War. He was not only an inspiring Statesman, ever conscious of trade as the great force for peace, but in many ways a delightful character. A physically courageous man, he survived an assassination attempt by waterside thugs in 1919, and morally courageous as well, he sacrificed several opportunities in his political career rather than compromise his principles, and spent much of political life fighting powerful vested interests. He emerges too as a delightful compainon in many ways, wise, witty and learned, though he had to leave school at the age of 11. This book, written by the son who was born in his old age, deserves to become a classic.

This is the life of a great Australian who has been in danger of being forgotten. Sir Hal Colebatch left school at 11 and a few years later walked through the desert to the Coolgardie gold-rushes. He camped in a tent, wrapped in newspaper, and when he got a type-writer became a journalist.

A few years later he was chess champion of Western Australia and a few years after that Mining Editor of a major Perth Newspaper. He entered Parliament, became Premier of Western Australia in 1919 and had to cope with the Spanish 'flu epidemic and a major riot on the wharfs. That was in the first quarter of his political career!

He later became Minister for Education, setting up the first country high-schools, West Australian representative in London, editor of the State's official history in 1929 and entered the Senate. There he refused to attend Party meetings on the grounds the Senate was not a Party house, but achieved some important economic reforms. In London again, he was involved in the West Australian secession campaign and, more seriously, travelled to Germany and met leading anti-Nazis who were trying to forestall Nazism by breaking down Germany's trade isolation. He also met Hitler, Goering, Goebbels and other Nazi bosses and was taken on a tour of an early concentration camp.

He also had dealings with Winston Churchill and many other prominent figures. Posted back to Australia in 1939, he campaigned tirelessly for a stronger Australian war-effort, and, after the war, for rational economic and trade policies. A life-long, and often very lonely, free-trader and campaigner against tariffs and other trade-barriers, many of his ideas have since been vindicated. He also worked for other forms of international co-operation.

His first wife died in 1940. He re-married in 1944 and the son of his second marriage, Hal GP Colebatch, a well-known poet, novelist, lawyer and political scientist, has written an absorbing book, charming, scholarly, perceptive, but also detached and objective.

I am so glad I discovered this book! It has given me much to think about and as well as being a warm human document has broadened my appreciation of West Australian history.

for the Olympics. This is an excellent pre-travel reference for anyone planning to attend the Summer Olympics in Sydney this year. The historical background will help to bring the city to life, from its beginnings as a penal colony to its growth into one of the world's truly great cities.

Sydney started out as a landing place for convicts from Great Britain. But from those humble beginnings, it has grown into one of the world's great cities. This is a "must read" for anyone planning a trip Down Under any time soon. The insights provided by the author will help the Australian visitor have a much better understanding of the city before him. With the Olympics coming soon to Sydney, the timing of this release couldn't have been better. This is a book worth the investment of time and money. You'll enjoy it.

I found this at the library 2 days ago when I picked books for my 6 1/2 yr old daughter. She latched onto it when she had the sniffles & felt like snuggling yesterday. In not much more than 24 hrs, I have read to her all 12 stories (96 pages). Every time we finished one, she wanted another. They are clever & the perfect length. Some will remind you of other stories, but they are very cute & timeless. They make you think. The illustrations are priceless; we loved finding the teddy bears almost too tiny to see & the bear pawprints hidden on each page. I did not like the book often putting down humans compared to teddy bears. I know it was all in fun, but it was unnecessary.

It was so fun to listen to the neat stories and not to mention the neat pictures. We love it and we are so glad we found another book for our Aunt.

With 'Terra Nullius', Sven Lindqvist turns his ascerbic, post-colonial attention on the great antipodean continent of Australia, ancient land mass, ancient indigenous cultures and one of the greatest of C18th Enlightenment experiments. The grim life of what was essentally a prison developed when the option of the United states was closed due to the War of Independence, is well documented by Robert Hughes in his, 'Fatal Shore'. Lindqvist's rhetoric is of cooler peruasion, but none the less withering for that. The manner adopted will be familiar to Lindqvist's readers. We are conducted on a studious and lugubrious tour of the literature surrounding the subject, the land mass and the treatment of its indigenous peoples, by its colonizer. These alone are salutory selections and presented in Lindqvist's usual succinct and pithy chapters. However, he is not a long distance operator, drawing conclusions in the safety of a European cell. He does the hard yards, gets the soundbites, scents, geology and social realities right. I recommend this as a primer for intending travellers to central Australia, who might wish for some background to the contemporary malaise in indigenous affairs, or in need of some background on why the federal government saw fit, and found it so easy, to intervene its army in indigenous communities, with barely a ripple of concern from the Australian public. It should be mandatory on the reading lists of Australian students.

Literary historian Sven Linqvist was introduced to Australia at a young age. An 1896 book described how white European invaders viewed and treated the Aborigines. The story depicted a trio of young European boys encountering a group of Aborigines at a meal. Tucked away in a deep cavern, which to the boys meant the Aborigines couldn't have hunted the meal, the boys immediately concluded the group was engaging in cannibalism. The result was inevitable, the boys opened fire with their carbines, wiping out the "natives". For Lindqvist, it launched a train of thought he pursued years later. Journeying around and through Australia, he brought in his swag a background of European literature dealing with "primitive" peoples. In this vivid account, he takes us on both a geographic and a sociological tour of Australia's historical dealings with its indigenous population. At each stopping point, he relates what occurred to the Aboriginal occupiers there. It's not a pretty story.

The Aborigines were the focus of a good many early ethnographic scholars, almost none of whom set foot on the southern continent. Emile Durkheim, Sigmund Freud, Bronislaw Malinovski, among others, read a few accounts of missionary or other observers to draw novel, if still Euro-centric, ideas of what Aborigine social structure was like and what it meant for human history. The common theme was that primitive societies represented a step on the way to "civilisation". According to Lindqvist, these scholars were uniformly incorrect. Instead of family, clan or even religion binding Aborigine society, it was the land they occupied. Europeans, who considered nomadic peoples as "landless", failed to observe the way land featured in family relationships, religion and the way a people who seemed to be constantly on the move, viewed the land. Aborigines may not have farmed the soil or used it to pasture animals, but that was because they understood how fragile that resource truly is. Europeans, under the influence of Christian dogma about "heathens" and academic dogmas about "primitive people", occupied Aborigine land with the view to "assimilating" or eradicating them. Assimilation was achieved by elimination of all ties to their own culture and a brief education leading to demeaning jobs as domestics or labourers. In short, forced off their land, forced to deny their roots, forced to enter an alien life.

The colony of New South Wales considered the issue of "terra nullius" ["land not occupied"] in the 1820s, but the author mercifully skips over the issue of whether displacing or killing Aborigines was "legal" or not. Instead, he views it as the attitude and the practice of Christian European settlers and miners as they crossed the continent. Until recently, only a few accounts made any effort to bring the Aborigines into historical narratives. Lindqvist makes the most of what he can find to depict the atrocities perpetrated against them. Beyond merely shooting them, Europeans also turned to the seizure of children to be trained in "mission" stations to be domestic servants or road and farm labourers. In addition to simply breaking up families with this tactic, the removal of children dismantled the entire social structure of the culture. With firm ties to particular areas of the countryside and ancient traditions regarding who could marry among the various "moieties", Europeans demolished millennia of finely-tuned cultural foundations.

As a literary historian with a broad outlook in philosophy, the author carefully examines the options facing the white population of Australia. How much guilt is to be recognized when you're living in a place so blatantly wrested from an indigenous population? How much responsibility is there for an individual in those circumstances to consider or bear? It's interesting that Australians have had sufficient sense of conscience to implement a "Sorry Day" in recognition of the injustices done to original peoples. Court cases finally introduced [almost] full citizenship, some justice for recent murders and, most significantly, recognition of what "land rights" implied. Regrettably, the federal government of the time [recently overturned after an over-long tenure] immediately attempted to impose new restrictions on access to sacred places. Even so, some halting first steps have been taken. It will be interesting to watch whether Lindqvist's account provokes Australia into more constructive steps into the future. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]