Editors: Catherine Hammond, Shaun Higgins Reviewer: David Veart

In 1848, two decades after a French inventor mixed daylight with a cocktail of chemicals to fix the view outside his window onto a metal plate, photography arrived in Aotearoa. How did these 'portraits in a machine' reveal Maori and Pakeha to themselves and to each other? Were the first photographs 'a good likeness' or were they tricksters? What stories do they capture of the changing landscape of Aotearoa?

April 2024 release

Authors: Rebecca Rice, Matiu Baker, Katie Cooper, Michael Fitzgerald Reviewer: David Veart

This selection transcends its colonial origins literally in 'The Colonial Museum' creating a powerful narrative using the artefacts woven together with subtle curation and a strong Māori voice, a voice which doesn't simply murmur 'ghostly' echoes from the past but instead speaks truth powerfully into the present.

March 2024 release

Author: Greg Ryan. Publisher: Auckland University Press.

In this extract from Chapter 2 of Continuous Ferment: historian Greg Ryan examines Aotearoa’s early days as a beer-drinking nation, exploring the trials and tribulations of importing beer by ship as well as early home and commercial brewing efforts.

November 2023 release

Authors: Brendan Graham with Jock Phillips. Publisher: HarperCollins New Zealand.

Cover story: Our Land in Colour is the August winner of Kete’s look at book covers. A history book like no other, it uses 200 photographs expertly colourised by Brendan Graham, with commentary from award-winning historian Jock Phillips, to tell a story of Aotearoa.

August 2023 release

Author: James Russell. Reviewer: Sofia Glucina.

‘I would recommend this book to kids 9 - 13, and people who like dramatic fiction. You don’t have to particularly like history to enjoy it. I find history boring but the Children of the Rush series made me want to learn more. It was interesting, fun, dark and heartwarming.’

September 2023 release

Authors: Peter Janssen & Elizabeth Anderson. Publisher: White Cloud Books.

Essay: ‘More than just a story of growth and decline, the history of New Zealand’s small towns is also the story of social and political change, cultural interaction, and conflict, of immigration, farming, environmental disasters. More importantly, it is the story of high hopes and bitter disappointment. ’

October 2023 release

Authors: Various. Reviewer: Dionne Christian.

Non-fiction pictures books to let the imaginations of young readers take flight.

June - October 2023 releases

Author: Andrew Paul Wood. Photographer: Fiona Pardington. Designer: Megan van Staden. Publisher: Massey University Press.

‘The seeding practitioners Andrew writes of were smart-as-a-whip mediums, quacks, artful dodgers, ceremonial magicians and self-appointed visionaries who either blew in, set down roots or were busted in one way or another only to hurriedly translocate. My cover’s vocation is to remain in hushed conversation with this clutch of wild-card spirits.’

July 2023 release

Tā Pou Temara. Nā Maumahara Horsfall i arotake.

‘He tirohanga onamata ki te wā i ō tātau tīpuna me te rerekē rawa atu o te ao i nohoia e rātau.’

‘a window to the past, to the time of our ancestors and the very different world that they lived in.’

Interview: “I suspect two factors have resulted in events like the Waioeka abduction by Te Kooti of 218 Whakatōhea people back into Te Urewera, and their release, being downplayed in the record of the New Zealand Wars. Both are indirect but probably related causes. “

August 2023 Release

Author: Denis Welch. Reviewer: David Herkt.

In We Need to Talk About Norman: New Zealand’s Lost Leader, Denis Welch focuses on the New Zealand Labour Party Prime Minister, Norman Kirk, who died in office in 1975. He ventures into this relatively recent history and finds new importance. In Welch’s version, Kirk is a gauge for our age.

June 2023 release

Author: Jared Davidson. Reviewer: David Veart.

This powerful book describes yet another hidden layer in the history of these islands, a place where imprisonment, labour, punishment, class and ethnicity all combine to create a narrative at odds with any imagined story of sturdy pioneers and well earned progress. Blood & Dirt: Prison Labour and the Making of New Zealand is recommended reading in a time where the urge to imprison and punish remains strong undeterred by the failure of the system to do anything but that.

August 2023 release

Author: Paul Moon. Reviewer: David Veart.

Auckland: The Twentieth-Century Story journeys through the mosaic of cultures and lifestyles, anxieties and hopes, disasters and triumphs, virtues and vices that led to the transformation of Aotearoa New Zealand’s biggest city.

05 April 2023 release

Extract from Tiny Statements: A Social History of Aotearoa New Zealand in Badges by Stephanie Gibson & Claire Regnault (Te Papa Press, $40.00

The award-winning authors of this small book Tiny Statements with a big heart delve into Te Papa’s collections of over 1600 badges to examine how New Zealanders have used badges.

April 2023