New Zealand in the 1820s had no government or bureaucratic presence; no newspapers were published; the literate population was probably no more than a couple of dozen people at any one time. Early explorers' assessments of New Zealand were haphazard at best - few knew what to make of this foreign land and its people. In this groundbreaking history of early New Zealand, Paul Moon details how so many of the events in this decade - the introduction of aggressive capitalism, the arrival of literacy and the beginnings of Maori print culture, intertribal warfare, Hongi Hika and the British connection, colonisation as a simultaneously destructive and beneficial force - influenced the nation's evolution over the remainder of the century. Moon leaves no stone unturned in his examination of this dynamic and fascinating pre-Treaty era. Surprising and engaging, A Savage Country does not merely recount events but takes us inside a changing country, giving a real sense of history as it happened. 'Paul Moon has produced an engrossing account of a singular, violent and confused decade in New Zealand's history.' Paul Little, North & South

'Though stronger evidence of this horrid practice prevailing among the inhabitants of this coast will scarcely be required, we have still stronger to give.' - Captain James Cook This Horrid Practice uncovers an unexplored taboo of New Zealand history - the widespread practice of cannibalism in pre-European Maori society. Until now, many historians have tried to avoid it and many Maori have considered it a subject best kept quiet about in public. Paul Moon brings together an impressive array of sources from a variety of disciplines to produce this frequently contentious but always stimulating exploration of how and why Maori ate other human beings, and why the practice shuddered to a halt just a few decades after the arrival of Europeans in New Zealand. The book includes a comprehensive survey of cannibalism practices among traditional Maori, carefully assessing the evidence and concluding it was widespread. Other chapters look at how explorers and missionaries saw the practice; the role of missionaries and Christianity in its end; and, in the final chapter, why there has been so much denial on the subject and why some academics still deny that it ever happened. This Horrid Practice promises to be one of the leading works of New Zealand history published in 2008. It is a highly original work that every New Zealand history enthusiast will want to own and read.

This book traces Māori engagement with handwriting from 1769 to 1826. Through beautifully reproduced written documents, it describes the first encounters Māori had with paper and writing and the first relationships between Māori and Europeans in the earliest school. The earliest Māori–Pākehā engagements were vividly recorded by both Māori and Pākehā in drawings and writing in the early 1800's. These beautiful archival images tell stories about how Māori encountered pen and paper, which gives us a new and exciting perspective on the past. Words Between Us – He Kōrero is a controversial and enlightening book that will stimulate fresh thinking about those first conversations between Māori and Pākehā.

British imperial encounters with indigenous cultures created perceptions and stereotypes that still persist today. The initial creation of racial images in relation to violence had particular consequences for land ownership. Standfield examines these differences and how they occurred.