The latest in the New Zealand collection.

Fight for the forests : the pivotal campaigns that saved New Zealand’s native forests. Paul Bensemann.

Bensemann charts the fight to save the West Coast beech forests in the Seventies and how this struggle led to the formation of the Native Forests Action Council and subsequently Forest and Bird and Native Forest Action. Their efforts, perhaps the greatest success story of the local environmental movement, resulted in almost all the of our native beech forests in Westland being protected in a World Heritage Area and subsequent victories in the protection of North Island native forests as well.

Headlands : new stories of anxiety. Ed. Naomi Arnold.

The stories in Headlands help make concrete the experience of anxiety and other mood disorders behind the alarming rise in Ministry of Health statistics that show one in five New Zealanders sought help for anxiety-related problems in 2017. The stories are written from a wide variety of perspectives by people across a range of backgrounds.

I have loved me a man : the life and times of Mika. Sharon Mazer.

From the discos of Timaru in conservative provincial New Zealand to successfully touring the world with his outrageous stage shows, Mika’s life trajectory echoes the coming to the fore of Māori culture and the acceptance of homosexuality within New Zealand society in the late 20th century. His story is told with skill by AUT performance studies professor Sharon Mazer.

Lasting impressions : the story of New Zealand’s newspapers, 1840-1920. Ian F. Grant.

Grant’s detailed social history of the once-thriving newspaper industry to 1920 is a welcome addition to the recent historiography of the press in New Zealand. One of the first endeavours of the early settlers was to establish a newspaper and there was once a time when every small provincial town in New Zealand had its own paper. As well as these, Grant covers the rise of the large illustrated weeklies that provided entertainment as well as news and the numerous papers published in te reo.

Māui street. Morgan Godfery.

Māui street brings together some incisive political commentary primarily focussing on issues of ethnicity, colonialism and class in Aotearoa. Godfery has established himself as one of New Zealand’s most trenchant critics of the political status quo.

Slippery Jim or patriotic statesman? : James Macandrew of Otago. R. J. Bunce.

An important figure in the history of Otago, Macandrew was the superintendent of Otago Province and member of parliament for 29 years. Many local institutions benefitted from Macandrew’s contribution and his mark has been left in the landscape of Dunedin and Otago.

That F word : growing up feminist in Aotearoa. Lizzie Marvelly.

In another contribution to the resurgence of feminist thought in recent times, Lizzie Marvelly dissects the patriarchy, discussing issues affecting women and girls in Aotearoa including body image, violence against women, the pernicious effects of pornography and the trolling and abuse that women receive online for daring to express their opinions publicly.