![]() ![]() I'm not going to dispute King's findings, but I'm so used to him being venerated that it was a shock to the system! One historical figure King is relatively harsh about is our 23rd Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage. When thinking about The Treaty it is like the Maori & the Europeans were signing two different documents - that is because they were! Trying to fix what often seems to be unfixable has dominated New Zealand's recent history. I found the writing on the Treaty of Waitangi particularly illuminating & the speed which the Maori translation was cobbled together really frightening. It is nice to believe our British forebears overall meant well & that Maori were not naive dupes, but often gracious hosts & masterly strategists. ![]() King looks at our mistakes (& as a country we have made some lulus!) but doesn't condemn us. ![]() I love this photo of him (taken in 1992, sourced from Wikipedia)Ī happy face, right? & I like to think this is how he looked when he wrote about us Kiwis, as for a history this book is astonishingly non judgemental. This book was published in 2003 & there will never be a revised edition - not written by Michael King anyway, as he was tragically killed in a car accident in 2004. ![]()
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