New Zealanders: The Field Guide by Tom Sainsbury

$37.00 NZD

Category: Humour | Reading Level: near fine

A revealing guide to the weird and wonderful inhabitants of New Zealand... and the places you'll find them. After years of mimicking various celebrities and stereotypes on his social media platforms, comedian Tom Sainsbury has now compiled his favourite New Zealand personalities into a book. This array of Kiwi heroes includes the useless farmhand that is forever jack-knifing the trailer, the martyr mother who guilt-trips her children, the officious office-worker who narks on the rest of the staff for low level misdemeanours, and the alpha-male teenager who loiters around Mount Maunganui every New Year's. All these descriptions are lovingly collated into a concise, easy-to-read field guide that'll give you a hilarious, in-depth insight into the people of Aotearoa. ...Show more

Elementary : The Explosive File of Scott Watson and the Disappearance of Ben & Olivia by Ian Wishart

$45.00 NZD

Category: NZ - Current Affairs

OF ALL THE BOOKS ON THIS CASE, YOU NEED TO READ THIS ONE...It's a murder mystery worthy of Sherlock Holmes. It even has a Watson. Yet, solving the disappearance of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope has proved anything but elementary. Some books on the case have argued so strongly for either innocence or guilt t hat they leave out evidence that is "inconvenient" to their argument. This isn't one of those books. Elementary blows open the Scott Watson case with evidence you've never been told before. Now that Scott Watson has broken his silence, it's time to break the story... ...Show more

The Wet Issue: Freerange Vol. 9

$14.00 NZD

Category: NZ - Current Affairs

Sensuous and fluid yet powerful, raging and unforgiving - from Styx to bottled water, from great lake to babbling brook, from poetic vessel to trade route, water exists in a myriad of states and is characterised by its many forms and expressions, its imaginative potential and raw impact upon life on ear th. From pirates, maritime tales and water-matopeia through to philosophical musings and post-colonial artworks depicting post-climate change futures, this issue pays tribute to the most abundant substance on earth. Water shapes landscape; it creates and reflects history. It defines where civilisations have established themselves and has forced them to move. It has appealed to pilgrims, explorers, scientists, philosophers, weather forecasters, town planners and swimmers. That its nature is so changeable, that its manifestations run the full spectrum of experience, has leant water to art, metaphor, songs, philosophy, literature, science and a myriad of other disciplines. Revered in religious and cultural practice, yet continually degraded by industry and human activities, water has a symbiotic relationship with humanity. ...Show more

The Commons:Freerange Vol.7

$14.00 NZD

Category: NZ - Current Affairs

Freerange Vol.7 is edited by Jessie Moss, Joseph Cederwall and advised by Tim Gregory. You can buy a beautiful hard copy or download your own digital copy from http://www.projectfreerange.com/free/ This edition explores the issue of The Commons from many different angles, perspectives, disciplines and media. The concept of the commons has particular relevance in light of the multiple crises we face for the environmental, financial and social future of our planet. This edition is an exploration of how the commons are actually being utilised and engaged by communities in reality in today’s transforming society . It is a celebration and exploration of this transformative vision as applied in practice all around us with special attention on workable commons models both past and future. Freerange Vol.7 features in-depth research into the areas of intellectual property rights, our food system and the re-claiming of cultural space through digital mapping. Some personal insights are offered into the commons perspective of  post-earthquake Christchurch and early childhood education. This edition also includes discussions of urban public space, the emerging peer to peer economy and participatory decision making alongside more artistic treatments of the theme of the commons through poetry and imagery. Freerange 7 features the following pieces: The commons as a transformative vision by DAVID BOLLIER & SILKE HELFRICH Of we within margins: A performance of edge by HANNAH HOPEWELL How to escape the inferno  by LELAND MASCHMEYER Reclaiming the urban commons by JOHN ALLAN Drug wars: the battle for the commons in global pharmaceuticals by THOMAS OWEN Putting Maori society, history and culture on the map by O. RIPEKA MERCIER An interview with Anne Salmond by JOSEPH CEDERWALL Cheap and Choice Award – Creative Commons The commons infographic chart Popular food activism and commons possibilities by ANDREA BROWER Early childhood education commons: A New Zealand reality? by JESSIE MOSS Christiania: Reclaiming the right to the city by JOESEPH CEDERWALL 12 Essays on the commons edited BY LELAND MASCHMEYER The commons that can’t be named | The Christchurch that can be named by BARNABY BENNETT A case for the commons by WILLIAM SHANNON Freeranger of the edition – Elinor Ostram by JOSEPH CEDERWALL ...Show more

Child Poverty in New Zealand by Jonathan Boston & Simon Chapple

$49.99 NZD

Category: NZ - Current Affairs

Between 175,000 and 265,000 New Zealand children live in poverty, depending on the measure used. These disturbing figures are widely discussed, yet often poorly understood. If New Zealand does not have ‘third world poverty’, what are these children actually experiencing? Is the real problem not poverty but simply poor parenting? How does New Zealand compare globally and what measures of poverty and hardship are most relevant here? What are the consequences of this poverty for children, their families and society? Can we afford to reduce child poverty and, if we can, how? Jonathan Boston and Simon Chapple look hard at these questions, drawing on available national and international evidence and speaking to an audience across the political spectrum. Their analysis highlights the strong and urgent case for addressing child poverty in New Zealand. Crucially, the book goes beyond illustrating the scale of this challenge, and why it must be addressed, to identifying real options for reducing child poverty. A range of practical and achievable policies is presented, alongside candid discussion of their strengths and limitations. These proposals for improving the lives of disadvantaged children deserve wide public debate and make this a vitally important book for all New Zealanders. ...Show more

Cannons Creek to Waitangi Te Pakehas Treaty Claim For Equality by Andy Oakley

$35.00 NZD

Category: NZ - Current Affairs

The Maori Intertribal Wars 1801 – 1840 were New Zealand’s biggest tragedy of the 19th century. An estimated 43,600 natives were killed or wounded by enemy tribes. However, this cataclysmic near extinction of our early settlers is tossed aside as irrelevant when something like the special rights of a mou ntain are abused. Judge Joanna Maze bizarrely fined a helicopter pilot $3,750 for gravely offending Ngai Tahu by hovering over the peak of Mt Cook. How has our society got to the point where this kind of “justice” is accepted? Setting up the race-based Waitangi Tribunal may well have been the worst thing to happen to New Zealand in the 20th century. This failed experiment in biculturalism has, by its very existence, nearly halted the cultural development of 14% of New Zealanders and is increasingly trying the patience of the other 86%. What, if anything, is the real difference between these two groups? What impact does the Waitangi Tribunal have on our society and how did it react to a Treaty Claim that showed its racist agenda by failing to acknowledge Te Pakeha, a tribe that the Treaty of Waitangi gave equal rights to. This book asks why we believe things that we know could not possibly be true, and why does our society seem to be operating with rules that don’t offer solutions to our modern problems. It explains how pre–1840 New Zealand was not inhabited by the “Maori race” but a number of nations/tribes who were constantly at war with each other, thus exposing the fraud on which the Waitangi Tribunal is based. “Cannons Creek to Waitangi” examines how New Zealanders began to arrive here 700 years ago in one of the last human migrations and why we behave the way we do today. The fact that the author grew up in Cannons Creek, Porirua East, not only offers him a different perspective on who really suffers in our dysfunctional societies but also what may fix them. This landmark publication explores the social problems that biculturalism and the political meddling with the Treaty of Waitangi have inflicted on the very people it was supposed to protect “…all the people of New Zealand”. ...Show more

In Dark Places: The Confessions of Teina Pora and an Ex-Cop's Fight for Justice by Michael Bennett

$34.99 NZD

Category: NZ - Current Affairs

Teina Pora, a 17-year-old car thief, was wrongly convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Susan Burdett, who had been beaten to death with the softball bat she kept next to her bed for her own protection. Tim McKinnel, en ex-cop turned private investigator, discovered the long forgott en case 18 years later, saw an injustice had been done and set out to win Teina's freedom. Reaching from the mean streets of South Auckland to the highest court in the Commonwealth, this is the story not just of Tim's quest, but also of how an innocent man who was left rotting in a prison cell for two decades found the inner strength to rise above the dark places to which he had been condemned. ...Show more

The Failure of Free Market Economics and the Future of New Zealand by Christopher L. Nobbs

$35.00 NZD

Category: NZ - Current Affairs

This timely book lays bare the failures of the free market economics and its associated political doctrine of 'neoliberalism' which, the author claims, have been very damaging to New Zealand over the past three decades. The Failure of Free Market Economics and the Future of New Zealand examines the coun try's economy and society, trade pact negotiations, and the critical twenty-first-century issues of climate change and natural resource depletion. The book identifies the limitations of market-based transactions, and the significance of the 'common good'. By contrasting the different economic and political claims in favour of the free market, the mixed economy, and the requirements of the global ecosystem, the book points towards policies for a future for New Zealand that is more just, democratic and sustainable. ...Show more

ONCE WE WERE ONE

$35.00 NZD

Category: NZ - Current Affairs

Wealth and New Zealand by Max Rashbrooke

$16.00 NZD

Category: NZ - Current Affairs | Series: BWB Texts | Reading Level: Very Good

The most recent NBR Rich List has revealed the biggest proportional increase in wealth since the list first appeared in 1986.  But what do these figures mean and what else do we know about New Zealand's fortunes?  Following his groundbreaking work on income inequality, Max Rashbrooke examines how wealth shapes New Zealand experience.  Drawing on previously unpublished data, this award-winning writer explores what constitutes wealth in New Zealand - where, how and why it is held.  In doing so, he addresses how wealth has come to be so unevenly distributed, and why this imbalance is something we can no longer ignore. ...Show more

The Stolen Island : Searching for 'Ata by Scott Hamilton

$14.99 NZD

Category: NZ - Current Affairs | Series: BWB Texts | Reading Level: Very Good

One day in 1863 a strange ship stopped at 'Ata, a tiny island in the wild seas between Tonga and New Zealand, and sailed away with one hundred and forty-four men, women, and children. The 'Atans were never heard from again, and in Tonga their fate became the subject of legends and superstitions. Uncover ing the tragedy of 'Ata takes Scott Hamilton on a journey to the kava circles and caves of Tonga and back to the streets of Auckland. The Stolen Island is a twenty-first century true sea story revealing slavers, mutinies, castaways, pirates and a cruel streak in Pacific history that is often overlooked but not forgotten. ...Show more

Rising from the Rubble - A Health System's Extraordinary Response to the Canterbury Earthquakes by Michael Ardagh; Joanne Deely

$40.00 NZD

Category: NZ - Current Affairs | Reading Level: near fine

How do health care workers manage disaster on an unprecedented scale?The 2011 Canterbury earthquakes were more challenging to the region's health system than anyone could have expected. The injured needed immediate treatment, buildings and equipment were badly damaged, aftershocks continued to rock the area, and communities were disrupted by flooding, liquefaction and fear. Despite this, many ordinary people - hospital and laboratory staff, general practitioners (GPs), pharmacists and others - accomplished extraordinary things in the aftermath of such devastation.'Rising from the Rubble' gives a compelling account of those who rallied to maintain and rebuild essential health services, maintaining continuity of care for the most vulnerable - from older people to those with kidney failure - as well as dealing with the significant ongoing impact on mental health. From the immediate emergency response after the earthquakes to sustaining health services over the following years in highly demanding circumstances, the stories of medical staff joining forces, collaborating and volunteering are infused with sadness, pride and even joy.Based on interviews with those who lived and worked through the Canterbury earthquakes, and the authors' own experiences, 'Rising from the Rubble' is an inspiring testament to commitment and recovery. ...Show more