New Zealand Books

I borrowed a copy of this via interlibrary loan while working on my own new book COOL MAPS OF INDONESIA (Nimble Books LLC 2007). The HISTORICAL ATLAS OF INDONESIA is a very useful scholarly compendium of hundreds if not thousands of maps developed using a very extensive GIS. Features I particularly liked were a list of islands over x size and a map that showed name changes next to islands. Most of the maps are based on modern era data. This would be an excellent reference for any library. Indeed, I might say it's a must purchase, given that Indonesia has the 4th largest population of any country in the world.

Why am I the first reviewer of this? It has been out for 9 years, and the author is one of Australia's best known historians.

Anyway, this book covers the immediate pre-Federation years to after the Great War. It is in these years that we see the concept jelling of an Australian nation. Fighting against the centrifugal trends from outlying colonies of Queensland and Western Australia. The Federation events themselves are shown to be fairly low key. Nothing really controversial.

It is the Great War that really cemented the national identity. The bloody episode of Gallipoli of course. But also the more costly battles on the Western Front. Unlike the US, Australia never fought a war of independence to establish its own identity. Instead, the Great War took its place.

It might seem a bit weird to review a book by a Catholic missionary by calling it irreverent, but this author does not hesitate to frankly address areas that many others have ignored or glossed over. He is openly a champion of the Maori people and his recounting of history does not hesitate to criticize the colonising forces that exploited them in the early to mid-19th century. The biggest drawback to the book is where it is obvious that he is a product of the continuing hatred between the Roman Catholic and Anglican (and other Protestant) churches and often digresses about how terrible the Protestants are. These parts, however, are easily identifiable and can be considered in that context. Beyond those parts, Vaggioli has done a very detailed research and documentation of the settlement of New Zealand and many of the doings that went on to bring about "civilisation." Many historians seem to gloss over this book, but it should be considered seriously. It presents many facts that might otherwise be lost to us, documented by other contemporaneous sources. This edition, a recent translation from the Italian, is a must for anyone wishing to go beyond "the party line."

While in essence a history of a movement, covering over 200 years, this books brings the past to life, inciting the reader to search for deeper meaning, and seek out reasoning which may have previously been overlooked.

Another excellent feature is the colleciton of photos - I only wish there were more.

A fantastic read, for anyone interested in the environment movement, and in particular the politics and the people behind it. A book no university student in related fields should overlook.

This is a very well-written introduction to South Pacific history, with the additional bonus of the author rejecting the 'politically correct' bias of more recent works which tend to demonize Europeans and sanctify the 'natives'. A must-read for anyone interested in the Pacific beyond the beaches and resorts.

"Home and Away" accompanies an exhibition of artworks from the Chartwell collection, held in Auckland, New Zealand 1999. The collection contains major pieces of contemporary Australian and New Zealand art, and while there is nothing groundbreaking in this particular exhibition of the works, the publication is refreshingly straightforward. McAloon groups the works classically under 3 thematic headings - signs/place/indigenity, abstraction/expression/transcendence, and abstraction/material/signs. While these are not new themes, the publication concisely highlights significant issues in the recent history of Australasian art. The text is informative, yet very readable and the reproductions of the works are simply luscious! A highly enjoyable book.

While parts of the book are slow moving it does convey the sophistication of Titokowaru from his military strategy to his letters to the British. It also provides a picture of life for early settlers in New Zealand.

A good read for New Zealanders who think that history only happens in the battlefields of Europe!

Nicolas Baudin and Matthew Flinders were commissioned by their respective governments to chart the unknown coastlines of Australia (then known as New Holland). Both did brilliantly well: Flinders making the first close circumnavigation of Terris Australis (or Australia, whose name he invented), and Baudin charting the the last unexplored slab of Western Australia, plus making numerous botanical and other scientific discoveries. Both captains, however, met with disaster: Baudin dying on his return (only to have his posthumous reputation sullied by a hostile biographer), and Flinders detained for five years by the notorious Governor Decaen, the Napoleonic commander at French Mauritius. This is the first book to chronicle their achievements along the same timeline, and naturally the narrative reaches a climax where they meet at South Australia's Encounter Bay.

There are not many New Zealand field guides to mushrooms,this book holds the biggest collection of New Zealand mushrooms in one book. My main complaint about it is the lack of good colour photos, there are a few but not many and their quality is not that great. However, all the mushrooms featured in this book are illustrated and the best thing about it is that there are also illustrations of cross sections, spores and more microscopic features for the more experienced or serious mushroom hunter. The descriptions are great, to a large extent they make up for the lack of photos, I have identified mushrooms using this book that to this day I have not seen in any other field guide!! No mushroom field guide is perfect, this one is not but when used in combination with other guides it becomes a vital memebr of the group.Also great for getting additional information on mushrooms identified using other guides.

Brodsky writes of her experiences as a girl in Sydney of the 1940s. Viewing it as an outsider. Compared to Europe, the city was unscathed by war damage. Her impressions are touching, and perhaps by not having grown up there, these are more revealing.

Those of you who have visited contemporary Sydney, or indeed Australia, will see a vast contrast. The Sydney of the 40s was a social monobloc, of overwhelmingly British and Irish ethnicity. With perhaps the odd Aborigine or Asian thrown in. The transplanting of British customs onto the region can sometimes seem so incongruous. Like the prevalence of the oh so British names of suburbs.

Brodsky's experiences were of a city just on the verge of massive postwar influxes. From eastern and southern Europe, and then eventually from east and south Asia.