A Traveller's History of New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands - Brief Article - Book Review

Contemporary Review, Feb, 2004

A Traveller's History of New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands. John H. Chambers. Phoenix. [pounds sterling]8.99 p.b. 400 pages. ISBN 1-84212-689-X. The latest in this highly successful series is based not just on the author's own researches but on his time in New Zealand. He begins with a chapter devoted to the physical environment and the earliest civilisations in this vast area whilst concentrating on the Easter Islanders, Fijians and Maori.

After that he follows a basically chronological approach whilst giving more attention to the twentieth century. The author has also given readers a chronology and list of further reading, a most useful historical gazetteer and five appendices on various aspects of the region's history, such as the Treaty of Waitangi or 'firewalking' in Fiji, and a list of monarchs and heads of government. The text is well informed and balanced and the coverage is very wide indeed.