The Penguin History of New Zealand
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3.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $28.99
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- $28.99
Publisher Description
This bestselling book, the triumphant fruit of careful research, wide reading and judicious assessment, is the unchallenged contemporary reference on the 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 full democracy. Between those events, and in the century that followed, the movements and conflicts of human history have been played out more intensively and more rapidly in New Zealand than anywhere else on Earth.
The Penguin History of New Zealand 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 colonising New Zealand were essentially humane; and that Maori, far from being passive victims of a 'fatal impact', coped heroically with colonisation and survived by selectively accepting and adapting what Western technology and culture had to offer.
Also available as an eBook
PLATINUM PREMIER NEW ZEALAND BESTSELLER READERS' CHOICE AWARD
2004 MONTANA NEW ZEALAND BOOK AWARDS
NIELSEN BOOKDATA NEW ZEALAND BOOKSELLERS' CHOICE AWARD - BEST OF THE BEST, 2011
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Author Michael King takes on a monumental task with this thorough survey of New Zealand history, which became the country’s best-selling title of 2004. King balances Māori perspectives with those of Pakeha (New Zealanders of European descent) while covering the country’s entire lifespan in close detail. A distinguished historian, he’s especially adept in his choice of metaphors to relate unwieldly statistics, whether communicating the toll of invasion and colonisation or the development of modern New Zealand’s progressive values. Reading with clarity and purpose, narrator Rosemary Ronald conveys King’s strategic mythbusting alongside his in-depth account of New Zealand’s unique story in this engaging audiobook.
