The New Zealand Wars and the Victorian Interpretation of Racial Conflict

Overview

First published in 1986, James Belich's groundbreaking book and the television series based upon it transformed New Zealanders' understanding of New Zealand's great "civil war": struggles between Maori and Pakeha in the 19th century. Revealing the enormous tactical and military skill of Maori, and the inability of the Victorian interpretation of racial conflict to acknowledge those qualities, Belich's account of the New Zealand Wars offered a very different picture from the one previously given in historical works. This bestselling classic of New Zealand history and Belich's larger argument about the impact of historical interpretation resonates today.

Reviews

"A tour de force. In a brilliant new analysis, he demolishes the received wisdom of the course and outcome of the New Zealand Wars . . . explains how we came by the version and why it is all wrong, and substitutes his own interpretation. It is a vigorous and splendidly stylish contribution to our historiography."  —Dr. Ann Parsonson, New Zealand Listener

"As complete and as brilliant a re-examination as one could imagine."  —Dr. Bruce Collins, Times Higher Education Supplement

Author Biography

James Belich has taught at the University of Auckland and Victoria University of Wellington, and is currently Beit Professor of Imperial and Commonwealth History at Oxford University as well as director of the Oxford Centre for Global History. He is the author of numerous books, including Making Peoples, Paradise Reforged, and Replenishing the Earth.