Social Sciences

Gavin Bishop's stunning, once-in-a-generation compendium introduces readers to the pantheon of Maori gods, demigods and heroes, and explores Aotearoa's most exciting legends from the Creation to the Migration. Meet the gods, demigods and heroes of the Maori people of Aotearoa in ...this breathtaking, large-scale illustrated book for children. Before the beginning there was nothing. No sound, no air, no colour - nothing. TE KORE, NOTHING. No one knows how long this nothing lasted because there was no time. However, in this great nothing there was a sense of waiting. Something was about to happen. Meet the gods, demigods and heroes of the Maori world, and explore Aotearoa's exciting legends from the Creation to the Migration. Fascinating, beautiful and informative, this once-in-a-generation compendium deserves a place on every bookshelf.
Read more

The heart-rending story of a seven-year-old 'Tampa' refugee who grew up to become a Fulbright scholar, highlighting the plight and potential of refugees everywhere.

An open, honest and at times intensely personal memoir about race, fatherhood, marriage, masculinity, fitting in, and the things that shape our national character. Simon Bridges grew up as the son of a working-class Baptist preacher in Te Atatu, as the youngest of six children. I...n many ways he had a typical Kiwi upbringing, at a time when having little didn't seem to matter much. Yet for Bridges, his was the life of an outsider: experiencing otherness for being Maori, and yet an otherness from other Maori; a Westie with a thick accent, trying to break into the upper reaches of society; distanced from his father, an ageing man in his own world. As a young politician, Bridges soon came to realise he was an introvert in an extrovert's world, and a male leader who has never identified with New Zealand's idealised version of the strong, laconic, rugby-loving man. In National Identity, Bridges offers an attempt to question himself and the country he loves. Politics, crime, kai, music, nature: these are the stuff of a life. Through candid and self-aware reflections, he points out that politicians have become less robust, and that people don't participate as much anymore - eroding our institutions and national life. He speaks his mind on an education system in crisis, the decline of Christianity, and how being the smallest, most isolated developed country in the world explains why we are how we are. Authentic, brilliant, humorous and poignant, National Identity is a must-read New Zealand memoir.
Read more

Esteemed editor Ross Calman (Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Toa, Kai Tahu) further revises the Reed Book of Maori Mythology to blend story, source and commentary into a captivating collection. Published in a distinguished hardback, this work will provide a valuable source of reading and re...ference for years to come.
Read more

A raw memoir from television host Matt Chisholm on battling booze and depression and finding a way through.