A new edition of the bestselling short history on New Zealand, updated to include the Helen Clark years, the rise of John Key, the Christchurch earthquakes and the 2011 Rugby World Cup! A lively and accessible history written by one of New Zealands most well-known commentators on matters past and present. Succinct and well referenced, this book is the most accessible introduction to New Zealand history currently in print.

An intriguing collection of tales plucked from the byways of New Zealand’s history by a master storyteller who recognises a good yarn when he sees it. Gordon McLauchlan tempts our imagination with 46 little-known tales from the past. Here you will discover:- that Auckland applied twice to the Colonial Office to be a separate colony from the rest of New Zealand- more about the man who wanted to be James Cook- when drinking beer legally became an ‘art’ on the West Coast

In 1976, journalist Gordon McLauchlan wrote his most famous work, The Passionless People a best-selling social commentary on New Zealand, where he probed the murky recesses of our national pscyhe. In The Passionless People Revisited he looks back at how New Zealanders have changed, or otherwise, over the last four decades in a book that promises to be as thought-provoking and controversial as the original.