Leisure and Pleasure

This exploration of an unexpected aspect of New Zealand social history examines the human body at leisure in the years 1900–1960. This book studies bodybuilding, especially the famous strongman Eugen Sandow; growing ideas about fitness, health, and exercise; the rise of beauty contests; the culture of the beach and the pool; nudism; and children’s play and the appearance of playgrounds. The central aim is to explore how bodies—men's, women's and children's—were shaped and displayed through various leisure pursuits in 20th-century New Zealand.

Caroline Daley is a senior lecturer in history at the University of Auckland. She is the coeditor of the New Zealand Journal of History and a past editor of the Women's Studies Journal. She is the author of Girls and Women, Men and Boys, Suffrage and Beyond, and The Gendered Kiwi.