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NZ Biography
Can't find the book you're looking for? Send us an email - if a book's in print, we can (usually) supply it!
 
Catalogue |  Rep List |  Back List  Showing 1 - 20 of 375 results
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ISBN / ISSN:
9780143007401
Ned and Katina : A true love story order quantity
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NZ$ 40.00 each
Paperback
Author: Patricia Grace
Published by: Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd.
In Stock: 4
A true story of love in wartime and in peace by one of New Zealand's finest writers. In Crete during the Second World War a wounded Maori Battalion soldier and a young Cretan woman fall in love when the young infantryman is sheltered by her family. After marrying in Crete, Ned and Katina come back to live in New Zealand, settling in the Far North.

They live a long, rich and happy life together, raising a family and involving themselves in community affairs there and in the Wellington region. Ned dies in 1987, Katina in 1996. Years later, the whanau of Ned and Katina approached writer Patricia Grace to compile their parents' story. Ned & Katina is the result. This warm, beautifully written true story is impossible to put down.

First published October 2009.
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ISBN / ISSN:
9780473160357
A Bridge Over:The Story Of John Masters, veteran fighter order quantity
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NZ$ 30.00 each
Paperback
Author: Allan Marriott
Published by: Masters Family
In Stock: 3
Dop November 2009, Christchurch

In 1965, John Milbanke Masters was awarded the Miitary Cross for action in Borneo, for which he was made a life member of the Gurkhas. In 2002 he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Between these awards recognising gallantry and chivalry, John was the last New Zealand commander of 161 Battery in Vietnam. He brought the troops home in 1971 to mixed feelings across the country.
Returning soldiers were denied entry to RSAs. Isolated, some punished themselves and withdrew from society, others developed unexpected illnesses and cancers. Reports sponsored by New Zealand governments denied that soldiers had been in contact with chemical herbicides such as Agent Orange. For nearly 40 years, Vietnam veterans struggled for recognition.
Unknowingly, John had also brought home the map that eventually proved the extent to which New Zealand soldiers in Vietnam were in contact with chemical ... more
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ISBN / ISSN:
9781869791339
Anna Kavan's New Zealand : A pacific interlude in a turbulent life order quantity
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NZ$ 37.00 each
Paperback
Author: Anna Kavan (ed. Jennifer Sturm)
Published by: Vintage New Zealand
In Stock: 3
New Zealanders live 'in temporary shacks, uneasily, as reluctant campers too far from home', wrote Anna Kavan in a London magazine in 1943.

Her seemingly negative comments created a stir both in the UK and New Zealand and suggested Kavan felt nothing but antipathy for the country.
However, in researching this prize-winning author of nineteen books, Dr Jennifer Sturm uncovered letters and unpublished short stories written during Kavan's sojourn in New Zealand that show a more complex, affectionate and significant response. Those stories are published here for the first time, along with a fascinating discussion of this experimental writer and talented artist, who struggled with bouts of depression and insecurity, as well as heroin addiction and a stream of unconventional love affairs.
Kavan roamed the world trying to find a home, and although her stay in New Zealand was for less than two years, her stories reveal a ... more
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ISBN / ISSN:
9781869404437
Her Life's Work : Conversations with five New Zealand women order quantity
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NZ$ 45.00 each
Paperback
Author: Deborah Shepard
Published by: Auckland University Press
In Stock: 3
Pragmatism, humour, stubborn bloody-mindedness - what else does a woman need to carry her through the ups and downs of her life's work? Her Life's Work chronicles the extraordinary life stories of five New Zealand women - Jacqueline Fahey, Merimeri Penfold, Anne Salmond, Gaylene Preston and Margaret Mahy.

As artists, writers, teachers, filmmakers and thinkers each has carved out an impressive career, balancing society's gender expectations with the pursuit of a meaningful identity through creative work. Born between 1920 and 1947, these iconic women experienced immense changes in society during the 20th century that directly affected their working and personal lives.

Their stories touch on major public events and challenges - the Land March in 1975, the rise of feminism, the occupation of Bastion Point, the Springbok tour of New Zealand. Author Deborah Shepard weaves a compelling narrative, based on in-depth interviews with ... more
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ISBN / ISSN:
9781877338984
It's Not What You Know order quantity
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NZ$ 25.00 each
Paperback
Author: Rosalie Carey
Published by: Steele Roberts & Associates
In Stock: 3
Rosalie Carey wrote this book - which is partly a 'prequel' to her A Theatre in the House, the story of how she and Patric Carey set up Dunedin's Globe Theatre - because she saw that there are many biographies of theatrical stars, but little has been recorded about life lower on the ladder. Rosalie paints a lively picture of her early career on the stage in New Zealand, then in post-war England where she acted and danced her way from the Scilly Isles to the Midlands, with shipboard and other romances, theatre superstitions, dodgy digs, shady agents and English 'cuisine'. Hard work and determination took Rosalie about as far up the ladder as was possible without succumbing to the casting couch. Back home, she put her experience to good use with the Community Arts Service which took theatre to the backblocks, then at the Globe. Many of the famous names of New Zealand theatre step on stage in her story, as do radio drama, ... more
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ISBN / ISSN:
9781877378157
Such Absolute Beginners : A Memoir order quantity
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NZ$ 30.00 each
Paperback
Author: Ian Cross
Published by: David Ling Publishing Limited
In Stock: 3
Autobiography of the author of the New Zealand classic
The God Boy.

Journalist, author, and broadcaster Ian Cross has made many splashes in New Zealand's small pond and in this rich and rewarding memoir he reveals much of his life that would easily elude any would-be biographer: The bizarre troubles he and another young journalist fell into in Panama under the direction of an older New Zealander who turned out to have been a British intelligence agent and his implication in gun-running. How a journalistic fellowship at Harvard University could turn his life upside down and have him write The God Boy, a novel that has been in print for fifty years and was recently published again by Penguin, this time in its Classics series as 'a masterpiece'. His innovation as editor of the Listener. His dogged pursuit of funding to recompense authors for the library use of their work; over twenty-four years the returns have ... more

Notes:
Journalist, author, and broadcaster Ian Cross has made many splashes in New Zealand's small pond and in this rich and rewarding memoir he reveals much of his life that would easily elude any would-be biographer: The bizarre troubles he and another young journalist fell into in Panama under the direction of an older New Zealander who turned out to have been a British intelligence agent and his implication in gun-running. How a journalistic fellowship at Harvard University could turn his life upside down and have him write The God Boy, a novel that has been in print for fifty years and was recently published again by Penguin, this time in its Classics series as 'a masterpiece'. His innovation as editor of the Listener. His dogged pursuit of funding to recompense authors for the library use of their work; over twenty-four years the returns have amounted to twenty-two million dollars. His years with the country's single television channel, his misadventures as Chairman of Broadcasting trying to save television from becoming hopelessly dysfunctional and, in 1981, facing demands to ban its coverage of rugby during the Springbok tour.
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ISBN / ISSN:
9781869418915
The Sixth Man : the Extraordinary Life of Paddy Costello order quantity
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NZ$ 25.00 each
Paperback
Author: James McNeish
Published by: Vintage New Zealand
In Stock: 3
'I think Costello was pursued by British Intelligence because there was an assumption that it might be an extension of the Philby "ring of five".' - Sir George Laking Auckland. Cambridge. Moscow. Paris. New Zealand's most brilliant envoy and the man who blew the whistle on Soviet possession of the atom bomb. The first western diplomat to penetrate the Nazi death camps at the end of the war, and General Fryberg's favourite intelligence officer. Paddy Costello was a scholar, a soldier, a diplomat, an exemplary father, a maverick, a lover of good wine. But was he also a spy?

First published September 2007.
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ISBN / ISSN:
9781877340239
A Plume of Bees : A Literary Biography of C K Stead order quantity
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NZ$ 40.00 each
Paperback
Author: Judith Dell Panny
Published by: Cape Catley
In Stock: 2
C.K. Stead is certainly one of New Zealand's most honoured writers and probably the most argued about. Judith Dell Panny has become a literary detective in her remarkable research into the origins of the Stead opus, from his early life to his influences here and abroad and their effects on his work.
Controversies swirl around Stead. Why and how does he write as he does? What has shaped him, what are the patterns, repeated and intricate, that permeate his extraordinary and ongoing work? In her investigations of all this, Panny also assesses the many effects his writing has on others. With Stead nobody sits on the fence.
WHY DO THE LITERATI HATE KARL STEAD? was the feature in North and South. Yet Janet Frame had “a feeling of amazed gratitude” because of Panny's book on her own work, I Have What I Gave. Readers, said Frame, would now be able to approach her work from new and original perspectives, enabling them to find their ... more
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ISBN / ISSN:
9781869507053
Billy T: the life and times of Billy T James order quantity
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NZ$ 40.00 each
Paperback
Author: Matt Elliott
Published by: Harpercollins
In Stock: 2
Billy T James was a larger-than-life comedian who gave us some of our best belly laughs. An accomplished singer and musician, he created enduring characters, poking the borax at the oh-so-delicate state of race relations in New Zealand in a way that stood him head and shoulders above other performers of his era. Like John Clarke's Fred Dagg, Billy T's characters were Kiwi through and through and we loved him for it. When he died in his early forties, of complications following a heart transplant, the nation was shocked - first by his premature death, and then by one of the first highly publicised interracial body-snatching incidents. His Pakeha wife and his iwi disagreed over funeral arrangements, ending in the taking by force of his body from their home in Auckland to a marae in Ngaruawahia. The sight of iwi and family battling in the media and reports of his body being transported in a van made sickening headlines. His widow, Lynn ... more
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ISBN / ISSN:
9781869792947
Bird on a Wire : The Inside Story From A Straight Talking CEO order quantity
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NZ$ 40.00 each
Paperback
Author: Theresa Gattung
Published by: Vintage New Zealand
In Stock: 2
No woman has ever risen as far in the corporate world as former Telecom CEO Theresa Gattung. Her appointment, at such a young age and from the marking ranks, astounded the country, and her leadership of the big telco that Kiwis love to hate was never far from the headlines.

This no-holds-barred memoir tells of her ambition, her determination, and her rise to business power. It tells of the highs of running a vitally important company such as Telecom and also the lows, as the company struggled with the Australian AAPT acquisition, shareholder pressure, antagonism from the government, battles with its telco competitors and changing technology. After seven years she felt she'd given her all.
The personal toll of those tough years at the top had been significant and Gattung is frank about how she had to rebuild her life with a clear focus. First with her chic Californian fashion store showcasing New Zealand fashion, and now with her ... more

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ISBN / ISSN:
9780143010975
Ratana the Prophet order quantity
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NZ$ 40.00 each
Paperback
Author: Keith Newman
Published by: Raupo Pub. NZ (ex-Reed)
In Stock: 2
Throughout history, certain individuals with a rare passion for justice and a gift of insight have been able to rally and motivate people through periods of great social change, sometimes defying all odds and being greatly misunderstood in the process. Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana was such a man, called to prominence at a pivotal time, with a message for the Maori people and for the wider world. After a profound vision he became a healer of people's physical ailments and a lifter of ancient curses; and he was also a leader in healing the 'land sickness' of the Maori, after decades of land confiscation by the Government and the Crown. As founder of the Ratana Church and the Ratana movement, he led his followers in the quest to unite all Maori under one God, and to restore the Treaty of Waitangi as the founding document of the nation, giving Maori equal rights to British citizens. Ratana - The Prophet, based on some 20 years of research, ... more
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ISBN / ISSN:
9781869508067
Richie McCaw: A tribute to a modern-day rugby great order quantity
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NZ$ 40.00 each
Paperback
Author: John Matheson
Published by: HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand)
In Stock: 2
Captain of the All blacks, McCaw has carved a niche for himself as a modern day great. The book charts his career from Cantervury and Crusaders star to All Black glory.
Richie McCaw’s standing within the All Blacks team is unmatched. The captain of Graham Henry’s team since 2006, McCaw has carved a niche for himself as the modern-day great within the All Blacks - the charismatic, never-say-die leader whom fans of the Men in Black have come to hold in the same light as many of the most revered captains of yesteryear.
Richie McCaw: A Tribute to a Modern-day Rugby Great charts the career of the proud Canterbury and Crusaders star who first burst into the national rugby conscience in 2001 when he helped his province to an NPC championship. Soon after, he was making his All Blacks debut in Dublin, beginning a test career that will ultimately culminate at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.
Author John Matheson tells the story of how the ... more
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ISBN / ISSN:
9781877505010
Running Hot order quantity
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NZ$ 35.00 each
Paperback
Author: Lisa Tamati
Published by: Allen & Unwin
In Stock: 2
The Badwater ultramarathon through Death Valley in the United States is one of the world's toughest races. Lisa Tamati was the first New Zealand woman to compete in the race alongside such legends of the sport as Dean Karnazes and David Goggins.
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ISBN / ISSN:
9780143011354
Ten Degrees of Reckoning order quantity
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NZ$ 37.00 each
Paperback
Author: Hester Rumberg
Published by: Penguin Books
In Stock: 2
This is the true story of a family who fulfilled their lifelong dream only to have their sailing adventure turn to tragedy in the Pacific. The Sleavin family, two adults and their two children, realized their dream to sail around the world in their 47-foot boat, the Melinda Lee. They experienced indescribable beauty, rewarding challenges, deep and meaningful encounters, and a wholly shared understanding of the world and of one another during their meticulously planned and crafted out-of-the ordinary family adventure.
The author, a close friend of the family and a veteran sailor herself, uses her personal experience to take the reader on an ocean voyage, and shares the Sleavins' travels while she provides a backdrop of intriguing facts and information. Three years into the circumnavigation, not far from the shores of New Zealand, a ship, loaded with thousands of tons of timber, altered its course by a mere ten degrees, and everything ... more
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ISBN / ISSN:
9780958275071
The Amazing World of James Hector order quantity
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NZ$ 25.00 each
Paperback
Author: Simon Nathan (ed)
Published by: Awa Press
In Stock: 2
James Hector was astounding. Scottish-born and trained as a surgeon, at 23 he took part in a daring British expedition to survey western Canada, and was given up for dead at a place still known - on account of his accident - as Kicking Horse Pass. Fortunately, he survived. Then head-hunted to carry out a geological survey of Otago, he arrived in New Zealand in 1861 and within a few years had founded all the country's leading scientific bodies, including the national museum (now Te Papa), the New Zealand Institute (now the Royal Society) and the Geological Survey (now GNS Science). A man of seemingly unbounded energy and interests, at various times he was also responsible for the Meteorological Department, the Colonial Observatory, the Wellington Time-ball Observatory, the Wellington Botanic Garden, and the Patent Office library. In this superb collection of essays, scientists, historians and Hector's descendants tell the fascinating ... more
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ISBN / ISSN:
9780646457352
The Gatekeepers of Galatas : The Untold Story order quantity
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NZ$ 45.00 each
Paperback
Author: Brian Taaffe & Jeannie Campbell
Published by: Sabicas
In Stock: 2
The untold story of ANZACS and Cretans who fought side by side, defending the highly strategic village of Galatas on the island of Crete during World War II.

New Zealand Divisional Petrol Company — a bunch of drivers and fitters — fought an epic, almost personal, battle. This isolated, non-infantry unit’s skilful and brave battle to save Galatas amidst those tumultuous days of the Battle of Crete in 1941 has never been fully recognised, acknowledged or truly honoured.
While Galatas is rightly remembered for the brave charge by Howard Kippenberger’s New Zealanders to retake Galatas, equally extraordinary events such as the wild and terrifying ‘bayonet and carving-knife’ charge against astonished German paratroopers by the NZ Petrol Company drivers, Greek soldiers and old men, women and children of the village, should resonate just as strongly. Indeed, this must be one of the best illustrations of the kindred spirit forged between ... more
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ISBN / ISSN:
9780143010067
Tohunga Whakairo : Paki Harrison - The Story of a Master Carver order quantity
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NZ$ 40.00 each
Paperback
Author: Ranginui Walker
Published by: Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd.
In Stock: 2
Paki Harrison is widely regarded as New Zealand's greatest living master carver, a man with a huge reputation as a leading tohunga of the art form. He possesses immense knowledge about the traditional arts of the carver, extending way beyond the actual physical arts to include its most ancient aspects - the symbolism contained in Maori art, to its role in transmitting old tribal history. Few know more about the symbolism of the waka taua (war canoe), whare whakairo (carved meeting houses) and kowhaiwhai patterns. This major biography by Ranginui Walker, himself a well-known public figure, traces Paki Harrison's life and work, from his privileged upbringing in the Ngati Porou household of his grandmother, where he was singled out for special training. The carving and building of several big meeting houses is described in detail, from the inside.

First published November 2008.
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ISBN / ISSN:
9781869790431
Wind Driven : The Barbara Kendall story order quantity
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NZ$ 37.00 each
Paperback
Author: Wendy Kinney-Kendall
Published by: Random House New Zealand Ltd
In Stock: 2
Barbara Kendall will go to her fifth Olympics this year. She's 40 and it's incredible that she's still competing, let alone winning, when most of her competitors are in their 20s. Her years of experience in racing, tactics, knowledge about wind and tide conditions, equipment and board handling skills play a big part in her success. But the most important factor of all, is her desire to win. Managing the psychology of winning has been the most challenging aspect of staying at the top. Barbara won Gold at the Barcelona Olympics, Silver at Atlanta and Bronze at Sydney. She'll be hoping to add to the medal tally at Beijing. A campaign for an Olympic Games takes Barbara at least three years. She keeps her fitness up by running, swimming, yoga, working out at the gym and windsurfing every day she can.

First published October 2008, Auckland
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ISBN / ISSN:
9780958240130

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Absolute Power : The Helen Clark Years order quantity
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NZ$ 35.00 each
Paperback
Author: Ian Wishart
Published by: Howling at the Moon Publishing Ltd
In Stock: 1
The Helen Clark we see today is a carefully manufactured, airbrushed political brand. She's also New Zealand's most powerful politician, ever. Absolute Power strips away the facade to find what makes the real Helen Clark tick, and explores the track record of a government that boasted it would bring a new age of "frugality and integrity", and an end to "cronyism, sleaze and dishonesty". Absolute Power is not just about what happened publicly and what played out on the news each night. It is much more about what was going on behind the scenes - the power plays, the dirty tricks, the Machiavellian maneuvers. The bits the daily media missed. Lord Acton once wrote that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and that the great "are almost always bad".
Is Helen Clark the exception to that rule?

First published April 2008.
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ISBN / ISSN:
9780143202660
Agents Abroad: the story of the New Zealand trade Commissioner Service order quantity
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NZ$ 50.00 each
Paperback
Author: NZ Trade & Enterprise
Published by: Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd.
In Stock: 1
DoP September 2009, Auckland
Softcover

Agents Abroad is the story of the people who have helped build New Zealand's trade over more than a century. As the first history of the New Zealand Trade Commissioner Service, it covers early trade promotional work from the late 1800s through to 2003, when New Zealand Trade and Enterprise was formed. Written by former and current trade officials, this book contains anecdotes from Trade Commissioners and their families, who lived and worked in many different cultures. It also includes photographs illustrating New Zealand's growth from a supplier of raw material to the wide range of manufactured goods and services expected today. A feature of the book is the number of behind-the-scenes personal anecdotes by trade commissioner staff writing from the front line.
 
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