New Zealand Books

In this fascinating book, Kevin Foster looks at the ways in which Britain experienced the Falklands war. He makes sense of the vast number of accounts, and of the various themes rehearsed.

The Thatcher Government portrayed its decision to fight, and its conduct of the campaign, as expressions of the essential national character, the `true Britain'. The mass media at once swung into line. In fact, the war primarily served a purpose hostile to the nation, Thatcher's political survival.

Government and media equated Argentina's initial recovery of the Islands with the Nazi invasion of Poland, as they immediately identified the war with the Second World War, and Thatcher with Churchill. They saw the Falklands as the image of Britain, a ravished island Eden. They ignored the harsher similarities, of economic dependence, under-investment and social inequality.

The media depended on the military for information, which turned the journalists into what one called `troopie groupies'. The media became a single, responsible voice speaking for `our common cause'. According to their account, 'our' Government never faltered, `our' flawless heroes carried out a perfect campaign. On the other side, their corrupt, undemocratic Government and its murderous thugs waged a campaign of Latin incompetence.

The war was supposedly unavoidable. There was no alternative; the British Government, guileless innocent in a naughty world, was forced into war by the Satanic enemy. Our supreme temptation was the serpent `appeasement', diplomacy a cunning trap set by wily foreigners. Peace demonstrators were described as pro-fascist, dissenters as collaborators. In practice, this meant rejecting in principle all ceasefire proposals and negotiations; it meant war without compromise. The only acceptable ethical outcome was the enemy's total surrender.

Government and media celebrated the war as the source of national salvation, even, in Thatcher's memoirs, of world salvation. War was rebirth, welfare, humanitarianism.

This presentation of the Falklands war has become the media model for all subsequent wars. Kevin Foster's book is a model of sanity; its publication now is especially timely.

Len Lye, like many artists I imagine, wrote in a broken style without necessarily carrying chains of thought through to their (natural) conclusion. He was careful to stay away from what he believed was a commercially dictated style of writing - as a result, themes would be appear scattered about his great mass of written material. Curnow and Horrocks have painstakingly gone through Lye's writings, letters and musings to present the reader with a flowing account of the many aspects to Lye's painting, sculpture, film and genetic theory in his own words.

This book is from the My Story series published in New Zealand, which is their version of the Dear America series. The books are diaries of fictional boys and girls during important events and eras in New Zealand history.

Seven years ago, Mary Brogan's family moved from Australia to New Zealand. Mary's father was supposed to follow them, but he never turned up. Everyone believes he deserted his family. When Mary hears of a gold rush in Otago, she knows if her father is still alive, he would head for the goldfields to make his fortune. Determined to see her father again and help her impoverished family, Mary decides to disguise herself as a boy and search for him.

This was one of my favorite books from the New Zealand My Story series. Mary was a very likable character in her determination to reunite her family. Her diary brought to life the hardships and adventures of life in the mining camps of 1860s New Zealand. I highly recommend this book to young readers who enjoy historical fiction in diary format.

Tanjas Darke's book is quite simply a testimony to the strength and resilience of the human spirit. This is a woman who for 20 years was degraded and sexually abused by the very person who by rights should have protected her from such horrors. Her own father.

I have read many books about abused children, but this book is the definitive of all those books, written by a survivor, it's never sentimental, it's often brutally honest to the point of it being horrific but most of all it packs an emotional punch that could polax Mike Tyson in one blow.

I actually came across this book by accident. Late one the evening I was watching a program on SKY and there was a documentary about Tanjas life. I sat mesmerised through the whole program and when it was over I went onto the Internet to find out more about her.

It was then I found out she had written a book about her life, "Flight of the Dancing Bird." Sadly it is not available in the UK and I ended up buying it second hand from the USA as it is out of print even here.

This is a book that should NEVER be out of print. It is a book that every High School Library should have on its shelves, it also is a book that every mental hospital in the world should make its Psychiatric staff read.

It is a book about an ordinary girl who suffered the most appalling of abuse and had the courage to carry on living. It is also a book about a survivor who fell in love with a good man and is now in a loving relationship.

I read it the moment it arrived, from cover to cover and it was one of the most painful experiences in my life. However I don't regret reading it for one minute because Tanjas Darke is a heroine to me. Because of her I am now able to look in the mirror each day and not be ashamed of myself anymore.

Thank you Tanjas, you've helped another bird to finally find her wings...

Written January 16th 2004

Tanjas Darke's book is quite simply a testimony to the strength and resilience of the human spirit. This is a woman who for 20 years was degraded and sexually abused by the very person who by rights should have protected her from such horrors. Her own father.

I have read many books about abused children, but this book is the definitive of all those books, written by a survivor, it's never sentimental, it's often brutally honest to the point of it being horrific but most of all it packs an emotional punch that could polax Mike Tyson in one blow.

I actually came across this book by accident. Late one the evening I was watching a program on SKY and there was a documentary about Tanjas life. I sat mesmerised through the whole program and when it was over I went onto the Internet to find out more about her.

It was then I found out she had written a book about her life, "Flight of the Dancing Bird." Sadly it is not available in the UK and I ended up buying it second hand from the USA as it is out of print even here.

This is a book that should NEVER be out of print. It is a book that every High School Library should have on its shelves; it is a book that every mental hospital in the world should make its Psychiatric staff read.

It is a book about an ordinary girl who suffered the most appalling of abuse and had the courage to carry on living. It is also a book about a survivor who fell in love with a good man and is now in a loving relationship.

I read it the moment it arrived, from cover to cover and it was one of the most painful experiences in my life. However I don't regret reading it for one minute because Tanjas Darke is a heroine to me. Because of her I am now able to look in the mirror each day and not be ashamed of myself anymore.

Thank you Tanjas, you've helped another bird to finally find her wings...

Addendum 29th October 2005

My wish has come true; this book is now back in print, it should stand alongside "The Diary of Anne Frank" to prove that the human spirit can overcome all horrors, from the Holocaust to sexual abuse. Some people might disagree but remember this childhood can be lost in a variety of ways and its not only the Nazis in this world who have a lot to answer for.

I must confess I had found the eco-mystical title and the drab cover of this book to be barriers that long delayed me picking it up. Even the subtitle does little to hint at the real value in it. What a mistake. It meant I actually read every other book I could find on the subject before this one when it should have been the first that I read.

Kerry-Jayne is an expert on NZ's ecology, and its weird and wonderful products of isolated evolution. In Flight of the Huia she places an immense amount of useful, and even surprising, information in an easy to follow framework for a non-academic reader. The framework of evolutionary processes and history presented here is invaluable in itself and I haven't encountered similar elsewhere in an easily accessible form. The wealth of detail can be skimmed or skipped, but then easily returned to if needed. This makes the book worth buying rather than just borrowing. However I found the detail so facinating I read it through as I went.

Kerry-Jayne comes across as a practical person. There's a clear intellectual honesty in her writing, which is not always the case with NZ's eco-academics. In contrast this book's sub-narrative seems always seeking broad buy-in.

More's the pity if it hasn't reached as wide a readership as it could through a poor marketing job by the publisher.

As for my recommendation: if you're interested in this topic and you've 'bought the bumper sticker', as they say, then buy this book too. It'll help make sure your mind is also where your mouth is.

Love, adventure and seafaring around the world. A little known but very real story of ordinary people doing extraordinary things, at the time of the last great world discoveries. That the protagonists were often performing heroic feats against their will, as in the case of the deported prostitutes, makes the tale even more captivating. This was enjoyable reading, instructive history and made you feel like you were one of the crew!

This guide was concise and easy to find things in. It divided the city into the various regions and had what there was to see and do in each area. It was a great fast reference tool for activities and places to see.

If you are using this guide for hotel and restaurant info, that is where it is a bit lacking and I would refer you to another book or to the fodors.com website where on the message boards you can ask Australians or prior travelers about first hand experiences.

Truly a guide to what there is to see and do when in Sydney! (And I hope if you travel there you will love it as much as my new husband and I did!)

Being on a long term stay in New Zealand, we have received nearly all the travel guides as gifts. This on is by far and away the most functional. It is not merely a laundry list of sites and hotels, but includes rankings and other information to prioritize your visit. It helps enable you to get the most out of the time you have available. Strongly recomended

This travel guide to New Zealand wins five stars for two reasons.

First, this book explodes with dozens and dozens of color photographs and color maps. You cannot help but be "wowed" with the beauty of the nation of New Zealand, as well as the beauty of this book.

Second, this travel guide points out--using a star system--(1.) how naturally beautiful; (2.) how kid-friendly; (3.) how historically intersting; (4.) how walkable, and (5.) how photo-friendly a whole list of cities and regions are. This information is precious because it helps you plan out your trip accordingly. (By the way, I took this book with me to New Zealand, and I found their rankings accurate and very helpful.)

But this guide alone won't be sufficient for travel in New Zealand. You'll have to add another one or two guides that are far more chock-full of details and practical information than "Fodor's See It New Zealand" is. My suggestion is "The Rough Guide to New Zealand," which served as my go-to lifesaver when I was over their on my honeymoon.