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The latest in the New Zealand Collection

The Face of Nature : An Environmental History of the Otago Peninsula. Jonathan West
West’s beautifully illustrated history of the peninsula, based on his PhD at Otago University, takes a long view of the peninsula’s human settlement and transformation from the arrival of the first Polynesians to the rapid changes induced by British settlement in the 19th century. The peninsula could be considered a microcosm indicative of the larger environmental history of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Gordon Walters : New Vision. Eds., Clare McIntosh and Zara Stanhope
This is a beautiful book to accompany the extensive survey show of Walters’ work currently being exhibited at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. The exhibition and book trace the development of Walters’ work from the early influences of European modernism, Māori rock art and his relationship with Theo Schoon, through to the hard-edged geometric abstraction and ‘koru’ motif paintings that he became famous for.

National at 80 : The Story of the New Zealand National Party. Colin James
Published by the party to mark its 80th anniversary National at 80’s primary focus is on the years since 1986. The book’s historical text is written by well-known political journalist and commentator Colin James. The book includes information on party officials and members of parliament elected since 1987.

Phoney Wars : New Zealand Society in the Second World War. Eldred-Grigg, Stevan, with Hugh Eldred-Grigg
This book skewers nationalist myths that have been built up over the meaning of New Zealand’s participation in World War II and shows that New Zealand society at the time was often deeply divided over the biggest armed conflict the world has yet seen. The authors show what life was really like for ordinary people at the time and breaks down simplistic black-and-white interpretations of New Zealand’s participation in the war.

The Shops. Steve Braunias & Peter Black
Steve Braunias is another great comic writer making a name for himself in the nation’s newspapers. Here he teams up with photographer Peter Black to meditate on the pathos and charm of declining shopping areas in suburban and small town New Zealand in the face of the online and stripmall revolution.

Tinkering : The Complete Book of John Clarke. Introduced by Lorin Clarke
New Zealand lost one of its most original and iconic comedians last year with the death of John Clarke. Tinkerings brings together Clarke’s writing from all stages of his remarkable life and show off the breadth of his comic genius. The book is introduced by his daughter Lorin.

Transforming Workplace Relations in New Zealand 1976-2016. Eds., Gordon Anderson, with Alan Geare, Erling Rasmussen and Margaret Wilson
Leading industrial relations specialists reflect on the last 40 years of radical upheaval in New Zealand’s industrial relations landscape. This period of time saw the decline and repeal of the arbitration system that had been in force continually since 1894, replaced with the market-orientated system of the Employment Contracts Act and later the Employment Relations Act. The reforms have led to a big decline in the labour share of national income as shown by Bill Rosenberg’s essay in this collection.