Maori History and Place Names of Hawke's Bay is a well-regarded regional history made available once more in this new edition. It represents a valuable study of Maori culture and a permanent record of people and place names in the Hawke's Bay that have always been known – but not always located – since early times. In the late 1940s J.D.H. Buchanan began studying, collecting and recording local traditions, conversations with district elders, family genealogies, early survey maps and Maori Land Court proceedings in the Hawke's Bay area. Following his death in 1961, Buchanan's notes were edited by David Simmons. Beginning form the moment Maori arrived in the area on the Takitimu, the book traces the history of local iwi including Ngati Kahungungu, Rangitane and Ngati Awa. Also featured are meticulous plans of pa sites, aerial photographs of the countryside, and a comprehensive gazetteer of place names.

Hawke's Bay has a remarkable history; like the rest of New Zealand's, short by world standards - for the place was first settled only in the thirteenth century - but filled with colour, life and adventure. This profusely illustrated book tells that story from its beginnings, through the rumbustious nineteenth century when British settlers flooded into the region, on into the twentieth century of provincial life, and finally into the twenty-first with its lifestyles and new vision of district place.The history of Hawke's Bay is a story of people - colourful characters whose lives lent such depth to Hawke's Bay's world. And it is a story of hope in adversity, of ambition, of recovery from disaster, and of success despite all the odds.This revised and updated second edition includes new photographs, further details and additional maps and material.