Three new books 2023-2024  

Fate of the Land Ko Ngā Ākinga a ngā Rangatira (Massey Press) is Danny’s new book, published in April 2023. This book is all about Māori politics during the much-vaunted Liberal Government era 1891-1912. As the book argues, this was not a particularly good time for Māori, to put it mildly.

The era was dominated by Māori attempts to protect land and livelihoods; and, in pursuit of this, concerted action by rangatira to achieve some form of state-sanctioned political independence for Māori, via the Ōrākei Parliaments, Te Kotahitanga (Māori Parliament) and Te Kīngitanga.

It was a difficult time for our tūpuna who struggled so hard for often negligible results  – however, histories like this do give us the chance to remember and celebrate them.

The book was released on 13 April 2023. For more info, see  Fate of the Land.

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Possibly due to be published later this year, 2024, A History of the Māori Trust Boards  1922-2022 (Huia) has a brief introduction, looking back to the Treaty era and Māori attempts to established state-sanctioned tribal independence. Then, the story proper (so to speak) starts in 1922, with the first Trust Board established, which was Te Arawa (pictured on the cover, see left).

We then follow the history of Trust Boards being set up,  and why government’s came and went on the idea. By 1991, however, 19 had been established – the last one was Ōrākei Māori Trust Board. 

It’s quite a long history of our tūpuna struggling, once again, for independence and protection of resources, not least the land.

We then examine the Waitangi Tribunal era, which changed everything, with 9 of the Boards converting to new governing entities.

It’s a long but very interesting history. The book was commissioned by Te Puni Kokiri and Minister Mahuta; and may be launched later this year. 

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Ahuwhenua. Celebrating 90 Years of Māori Farming (Huia) was also launched last year, at the Ahuwhenua Awards Dinner in Tauranga in early June 2023. This book brings our earlier 2015 book up to date, adding another 10 years of competitions to 2023.

Plus, we now have some new chapters added dealing with various aspects of Māori farming. like the origins of Māori horticulture, revisiting the lives of the earliest Ahuwhenua farmers, the process by which Māori lost so much land to the 1930s, and a celebration of our Young Māori Farmers and Growers. 

Ahuwhenua encapsulates an amazing  history  of  Māori economic and social transformation made possible through the dedication and hard work of generations of Māori farmers in often trying and difficult circumstances – a wonderful testament to their commitment and resolve.

The book also describes the amazing efforts of the Ahuwhenua Trophy Committees since 1933 to keep the competition viable, attracting the finest Māori farmers as competitors each year – and in this regard, the Committees have been an enormous success.

For More details, see Huia books.

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The section below contains details of Danny’s published work since about the mid 1990s. 

In some cases, copies of articles and newspaper items can be accessed by clicking on the respective cover images provided.

More copies of articles will be added over the next short while. Eventually, everything published by Danny to date should be available to read directly on this site.

Full citations of Danny’s published material is provided with each image. In most cases, citations will appear when your cursor lands on the cover image. However, you can also obtain the citation from Danny’s bibliography .

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Wars Without End – was published by Penguin Books on 2 February 2021. This book is a complete revision and update of Wars Without End originally published by Penguin in September 2009.

The book has a new subtitles, photographs and maps, plus a new Introduction which contextualises the New Zealand’s Land Wars literature in the light of recent controversies.

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A Life of Te Whiti O Rongomai 

To see details of Danny’s book on Te Whiti O Rongomai,  – Te Whiti O Rongomai and the Resistance of Parihaka  (Huia Publishers, Wellington, 2015) – plse click here – TE WHITI BIOGRAPHY. This book is essentially a political history which discusses the causes of the  invasion of Parihaka by colonial troops in 1881. These causes are set against aspects of Te Whiti’s life and upbringing.

The Introduction to this book was published as an extract on the Spinoff website, which is a well-known site reviewing literary and cultural issues, managed by acclaimed writers like Steve Braunias  You can read the extract here : Introduction – Invasion.

Incidentally, when the Spinoff website published its top 50 Māori texts ever published, Danny’s book on Te Whiti O Rongomai was numbered at 13. You can see the list of top 50 Māori texts here – Top Māori Texts.

Ngā Kupu Ora Awards 2016

On 3 October 2016, Te Whiti O Rongomai and the Resistance of Parihaka received a Ngā Kupu Ora Award (Māori Book Award) for the best Māori biography published in 2015.

These awards are presented by Massey University and Te Puni Kokiri / the Ministry of Māori Development. These awards were established to encourage and reward Māori writers and journalists in their research and publications, given that Māori tended to be overlooked in national book awards.

One year earlier, 2015, Danny’s book on Māori farming – Ahuwhenua. Celebrating 80 Years of Māori Farming (Huia, 2013) was also nominated for a Ngā Kupu Ora Award – see photo above, Ahuwhenua is the bright red book in the midst of the other awesome nominees.