The New Zealand Wars are everywhere these days – newspapers, magazines, monographs, radio, television, apps .. historians new to the field are making all kinds of amazing discoveries, going public with breathless pronouncements and photo-ops.
It’s all very interesting, but the problems is, it’s all been said before.
One thing noticeably missing from all the publicity is historians acknowledging that a comprehensive literature does exist; and others have covered the ground before.
Historiography used to matter, but not so these days, it seems.
Here are two brief pieces on the previous literature and especially on Māori historians working in the field.
Unfortunately, once all this publicity dies down, the wars will go away and be forgotten, for lack of interest. Until another historian comes along, and discovers everything anew ..
The point is, the literature provides context and reveals past issues, not all of which have been resolved.