New Zealand/Aotearoa Recent Picks

February 2010

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Fletchers: a centennial history of Fletcher Building by Paul Goldsmith.
"Most of New Zealand's great business icons of the twentieth century have withered, disappeared or been swallowed by other firms. But a century after James Fletcher began his work in Dunedin, in 1909, Fletcher Building continues to perform as one of New Zealand's largest and most trusted companies, with a significant international presence. This book tells the story of how Fletcher, in its many manifestations over the decades, has transformed New Zealand's built environment by constructing such renowned structures as the Auckland University Clock Tower and the Museum of New Zealand: Te Papa Tongarewa. Equally, the company has helped shaped the country's economic development by creating efficiencies of scale in construction and building materials, and by pioneering many new industries. This is a centennial history that sets the company's history in the broadest political and economic context. It traces the many dilemmas its leaders faced as they searched for growth and responded to the relentless challenges of business: slumps, credit squeezes, marauding governments and asset strippers, capricious policy makers, demanding customers, internal arguments, fleet-footed new competitors and changing investor attitudes. It is one of New Zealand's greatest stories of sustained ambition, performance, reinvention and, ultimately, business survival." (Real Groovy)

The invention of New Zealand: art & national identity, 1930-1970 by Francis Pound.
"The Invention of New Zealand is an important study of nationalism in twentieth-century New Zealand art. From the 1930s onwards, artists, writers and critics such as Toss Woollaston, Allen Curnow, Colin McCahon, Rita Angus, A R D Fairburn, Doris Lusk and Monte Holcroft deployed art, literature and theory in the construction of a national identity, the search for the essence of New Zealand and the invention of a specifically New Zealand high culture. Francis Pound ponders, decodes, memorialises and celebrates this project from its starting moment when painters and poets became newly self-conscious about New Zealand art. He argues that in the early 1970s the framework was largely dismantled and the discourse abandoned by a new generation of artists and critics, such as Richard Killeen, Ian Scott and Petar Vuletic. Over ten fascinating chapters, Pound covers the Nationalists' major concerns, their problems with antecedents, the formulation of their canon and their various co-option, adoption and rejection of Regionalism, Cubism, Modernism and Primitivism in their quest for invention. The Invention of New Zealand is a well-illustrated and engagingly written narrative by one of our most brilliant and original art historians." (Real Groovy)

Art that moves: the work of Len Lye by Roger Horrocks.
"'Kinetic art is the first new category of art since prehistory', ex-pat New Zealand artist Len Lye boldly claimed in an essay in 1964. What did he mean by this? And how does his own work in sculpture and film bear it out? In The Art of Motion: The Work of Len Lye Roger Horrocks, the author of the best-selling 2001 biography of Lye, explores these questions. He describes the forerunners of this 'art that moves', then discusses in detail Lye's life and career as a kinetic artist, how he developed and envisioned his 'tangible motion sculptures' and how many of these are being realised only now, after his death. Lye himself wrote extensively about kinetic art; one chapter focuses on his theories about 'the art of motion', and relates these back to his practice as an artist. Horrocks concludes by discussing how Lye's ideas can be applied to other works and how they are relevant today. The Art of Motion includes a DVD containing a short documentary by Shirley and Roger Horrocks, with brilliant footage from Lye's films and of his sculptures in motion. Len Lye's art moves again - alert and alive - in this well-illustrated book and its accompanying DVD." (Real Groovy)

David Burton's New Zealand food and cookery.
"Based in Wellington, David Burton is one of New Zealand's most influential and respected food writers, having earned his reputation over the last two decades as a discerning, if at times controversial, food and restaurant critic. His regular articles for Cuisine magazine and reviews for the Dominion Post are awaited with anticipation by diners, restaurateurs and chefs alike. When David wrote the award-winning 200 Years of New Zealand Food and Cookery (published in 1982 and regarded by many as the 'bible' of New Zealand's culinary industry), his claims that a unique New Zealand cuisine existed were met with hoots of derision. But David asserts that 'Kwisine Kiwiana', as he calls it, was and still is alive and kicking and evolving. Comprehensive in its coverage, this new book focuses on food and recipes of our nation. An introductory section covers Maori and traditional colonial foods, including a fascinating history of dining out in New Zealand, and traces developments in the food industry and produce through to the present day. Old Kiwi food institutions such as fish and chips, Aunt Daisy, meat pies, tomato sauce, chilly bins, barbies and chocolate fish, and many more are also covered. Over 100 recipes, from Shepherd's Pie and Toheroa Fritters to Spanikopita and Kumara and Prune Tzimmes, illustrate the dramatic changes in our culinary traditions; not only do they show the influence of thousands of new ingredients which accompanied migrants to New Zealand, but also how we have embraced these cuisines and successfully adapted them to our own indigenous ingredients." (Real Groovy)

Health cheque: the truth we should all know about New Zealand's public health system by Gareth Morgan & Geoff Simmons; with John McCrystal.
"From interviews with those working in the sector through to a detailed examination of the latest major review of the system known as the Horn Report, Morgan and Simmons go behind the scenes of the New Zealand public health system and bring clarity to the issues that need to be addressed if crisis is to be avoided. The book explores the consequences of ongoing avoidance of the tough calls on rationing and prioritisation. It considers how many New Zealanders are already suffering or missing out from health care because of ad-hoc interventions in response to pressure groups. Co-authored with former Treasury analyst Geoff Simmons, and written in Morgan's frank style, this book takes no prisoners as it explores which patients and treatments need to be given priority." (Library Catalogue)

Ring around the city: Wellington's new suburbs, 1900-1930 by Adrian Humphris & Geoff Mew.
"Ring Around the City looks at Wellington's suburban growth from 1900 to 1930 taking Kilbirnie and Kelburn as case studies and contrasting the city council's tramway system and the privately run Kelburn cable car. It contains many rarely seen photos (both b/w and colour), maps and plans of early Wellington to illustrate the story." (Real Groovy)

In/visible sight: the mixed-descent families of Southern New Zealand by Angela Wanhalla.

Historical journal: Volume thirty one 2009, by Otaki Historical Society.

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