NEW ZEALAND BOOKS
The New Zealand Wars: Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa
Vincent O’Malley (Bridget Williams Books, $40)
Vincent O’Malley follows his magisterial survey of the war in the Waikato – The Great War for New Zealand – with a concise account of all those conflicts that come under this title. It aims to be, as the blurb elaborates, an “accessible introduction to the causes, events and consequences” of the wars. That is a rather colourless description for this catalogue of blood and betrayal that played out over a quarter of a century.
The first thing most readers will notice is the unusually high standard of illustrations. In fact, they occupy nearly half of the book’s pages, and constitute as profuse, fine and
