The non-violent defiance of Te Whiti-o-Rongomai, Tohu Kakahi and their followers at Parihaka is one of the great New Zealand narratives. This extract from the book by journalist Dick Scott that brought the story to the wider Pākehā world describes what happened when troops and settler volunteers invaded the village of Parihaka on 5 November 1881.

Parihaka was a place and an event that could be lost and found, over and over. It moved into view, then disappeared, just like the mountain. In 1881, over 1,500 colonial troops invaded the village of Parihaka near the Taranaki coast. Many people were expelled, buildings destroyed, and chiefs Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi were jailed. In this BWB Text, Rachel Buchanan tells her own, deeply personal story of Parihaka. Beginning with the death of her father, a man with affiliations to many of Taranaki’s eight iwi, she describes her connection to Taranaki, the land and mountain; and the impact of confiscation. Buchanan discusses the apologies and settlements that have taken place since te pāhuatanga, the invasion of Parihaka.

&‘You approach family stories with caution and care, especially when a thing long forgotten is uncovered in the telling.'In this deft memoir, Richard Shaw unpacks a generations-old family story he was never told: that his ancestors once farmed land in Taranaki which had been confiscated from its owners and sold to his great-grandfather, who had been with the Armed Constabulary when it invaded Parihaka on 5 November 1881.Honest, and intertwined with an examination of Shaw's relationship with his father and of his family's Catholicism, this book's key focus is urgent: how, in a decolonizing world, Pakeha New Zealanders wrestle with, and own, the privilege of their colonial pasts.

There is a deep dysfunction in the way we talk about oil and mining. Battles over oil and mining developments in New Zealand are fierce and polarised. Often presented as a simple trade-off between conservation or quick profit, the debate leaves little space for discussion across ideological divides. The Ground Between provides a rare account from someone who has worked within this contested arena. Drawing on his experience with local and international mining companies, governments and NGOs, Sefton Darby reflects frankly on the state of resource extraction in New Zealand. Seeking to reset the debate within a global context, this book is ultimately about how we – as a country – make decisions around contentious issues.

"Drawing on previously unpublished manuscripts, many of the teachings and sayings of Te Whiti and Tohu - in Maori and English - are reproduced in full with extensive annotation by Te Miringa Hohaia. Parihaka: The Art of Passive Resistance reaches beyond the art and literary worlds to engage with cultural issues important to all citizens of Aotearoa New Zealand."--Jacket.

The year 2014 was the hottest on record since we’ve begun collecting global temperature measurements in 1880. Even at its midway point, 2015 was already promising to take over this dubious record. As new thresholds are breached, acclaimed Radio New Zealand science writer Veronika Meduna explores our future in a warmer world. Beginning with lessons from our ancient geological past, this BWB Text draws on current observations and increasingly sophisticated climate models to describe possible end-of-century scenarios for New Zealand. Distorted ecosystems, extreme weather, new landscapes and adapted foods are just some of the likely changes that amount to a radically different future for our country.

We are no longer like our ancestors. We no longer depend on our skills as foragers, gatherers, scavengers, hunters and fishers for food. We are only part-time food raisers at best. . . Our biology, on the other hand, has changed far less. Now there is a mismatch between who we are and what we eat. And it is in the gap created by this mismatch that chronic diseases. . . can take root. John Potter, an award-winning public health researcher, examines the latest research on what causes cancer and other chronic diseases. What is scientists’ current understanding of the balance between diet, genes and plain bad luck, and how is the balance shifting? He explores how our adaptation to the diets of our ancestors can be linked to the diseases we experience in the present – and explains what the evidence says we can do about it.