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Cargando... A Concise History of New Zealand (2005)por Philippa Mein Smith
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Referencias a esta obra en fuentes externas. Wikipedia en inglés (16)New Zealand was the last major landmass, other than Antarctica, to be settled by humans. The story of this rugged and dynamic land is beautifully narrated, from its origins in Gondwana some 80 million years ago to the twenty-first century. Philippa Mein Smith highlights the effects of the country's smallness and isolation, from its late settlement by Polynesian voyagers and colonisation by Europeans - and the exchanges that made these people Maori and Pakeha - to the dramatic struggles over land and recent efforts to manage global forces. A Concise History of New Zealand places New Zealand in its global and regional context. It unravels key moments - the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, the Anzac landing at Gallipoli, the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior - showing their role as nation-building myths and connecting them with the less dramatic forces, economic and social, that have shaped contemporary New Zealand. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)993History and Geography Oceania and elsewhere New ZealandClasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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The scanty discussion of pre-contact history intrigues me; the consensus date for Maori arrival is around 1200 AD, hence most New Zealand history is Maori. I wonder if it’s politically incorrect to inquire too deeply into Maori history, as it is with a lot of Native American groups. The book gives a couple of Maori arrival myths, but no results of archaeological or anthropological research. There’s a one-sentence mention of the extinction of the moa avifauna, with the grudging admission that the Maori might have done it – rather than “climate change”. Discussion of Maori affairs makes up a substantial part of the text. Smith frequently uses Maori words, which is a little disconcerting at first – there are no in-line definitions – but a glossary makes up for it.
The lack of attention to areas other than politics leaves a lot of questions. Is there oil, coal, or gas in New Zealand? Other mineral resources? Being proudly “nuclear free”, where does New Zealand expect to get its energy (and why isn’t Ernest Rutherford mentioned anywhere in the book)? Earthquake, tsunami and volcano preparedness would seem to be important topics but are not mentioned. Transportation gets little mention; are there any railroads in New Zealand? I assume so, but you wouldn’t learn it here. The pull of the recent is obvious; half the book discusses the last 80 years of New Zealand political history. Author Philippa Mein Smith is of a general liberal bent, although grudgingly admitting that recent market-oriented reforms (“Rogernomics”) were beneficial, or at least not a bad as feared.
Readable enough, and I suppose any book that makes you interested in finding out more has done its job. Still, I could have done with a little less about the Lead Maternity Center Scheme and some more on industry, mining, transportation and energy. Part of a series; I wonder if the other “Concise Histories” are in the same bent. ( )