This new publication is now in the bookshops – Toitū Te Whenua Places and People of the New Zealand Wars. It’s a new comprehensive history / visitors guide to the New Zealand wars, viewed from multiple and interesting angles, written by Lauren Keenan.
In many respects, the book is a personal journey embarked upon by Lauren, accompanied by whānau, through the contested histories and sacred landscapes of the wars.
The book has been published by Penguin Books, Auckland; and is an excellent ‘front door’ into the complicated yet fascinating – and always interesting – field of the New Zealand Wars.
Lauren is a published writer of books ranging from personal well-being to young people’s historical fiction. She was recently nominated for a national book award in 2022. Lauren’s latest book is The Space Between (Penguin, Auckland, 2024) is a riveting historical fiction based in New Plymouth on the eve of war breaking out in 1860. Her new book is entitled Toitu Te Whenua, which means ‘The Land Endures‘ – it’s a comprehensive history plus heaps of information about how to visit the many battlesites scattered about the country, each one with its own important story.
Two histories of Māori have just been published.
Huia Histories of Māori has been reprinted in December 2024, published by Huia Publishers, Wellington.
The book is edited by Dr Danny Keenan and contains chapters on Aotearoa’s history written by Māori scholars, historians and writers including Eddie Durie, Mason Durie, Brad Haami, Margaret Mutu, Buddy Mikaere, Maria Bargh, Hana O’Regan, Rawiri Taonui, Aroha Harris and Teurikore Biddle.
This volume was first published in 2012. But in the ensuing twelve years, it has lost none of its significance or relevance, speaking directly to these uncertain times dominated by Treaty Principles under attack, the undermining of well-established norms of co-governance, and ever-changing school history curriculums.
The book is structured as a chronological history of New Zealand, generally speaking. Each author covers a select time period, presented in sequence, though each author also imbues their contribution with distinct and pertinent aspects of Māori knowledge, perspective, scholarship and history.
The volume commences in the pre-contact era governed by Maori custom law (Eddie Durie) through to the recent advent of the Māori Party and ensuing era of new Māori politics (Maria Bargh). Interposed are essays of a more thematic nature, like Māori health transitions (Mason Durie), the continuing potency of cultural performance (Teurikore Biddle), the increasing relevance of te reo (Hana O’Regan) and international Indigenous contexts (Brendon Hokowhitu).
A second volume of Māori historical essays has also been published in December 2024, entitled Maranga! Maranga! Maranga!
This book was edited by Māori historians Dr Aroha Harris and Dr Melissa Matutina Williams, and has been published by Bridget Williams Books, Wellington.
This fascinating and interesting publication contains essays by Māori historians including Basil Keane, Te Ahukaramu Charles Royal, Te Maire Tau, Nepia Mahuika, Tiopira McDowell, Megan Potiki, Rachel Buchanan and Danny Keenan. The essays are drawn from the Te Pouhere Korero Journal, which is the journal of Te Pouhere Korero, a collective of Māori historians established in 1992.
The New Zealand Herald / Gisborne Herald recently published an interesting artcle on Maranga! Maranga! Maranga!, highlighting the importance of this new publication.
Inaugural issue of Te Pouhere Kokorero Journal, March 1999, launched at Māori Historians Hui at Te Wananga o Raukawa, Otaki, April 1999.
Inaugural issue of Te Pouhere Journal signed by Māori historians present when launched.
Also just released, January 2025, a reprint of our 2008 publication, Terror In Our Midst. Searching for Terror in Aotearoa New Zealand, Huia Publishers, Wellington, 2008, reprinted 2025.
See terrorism and Maori for more details on the police raids of 2007 which gave rise to this publication one year afterwards, in 2008.