The devastating earthquake that hit Christchurch in 2011 did more than rupture the surface of the city, argues historian Katie Pickles. It created a definitive endpoint to a history shaped by omission, by mythmaking, and by ideological storytelling. In this multi-layered BWB... read more

Thousands of years ago migrants from South China began the journey that took their descendants through the Pacific to the southernmost islands of Polynesia. Atholl Anderson's ground-breaking synthesis of research and tradition charts this ... read more

Debates over immigration are heating up - with grave political consequences. It is no coincidence that calls to restrict national borders are intensifying at a time when people are more mobile than ever. But closed borders are no more imag... read more

Everyone lives a messy, unusual life. There is no normal. The sooner our politics understands this, the better off we will all be.' Morgan Godfery is one of New Zealands most energising young thinkers. In just a few years he has become a leading voice in the countrýs social and... read more

In 1881, colonial troops invaded the village of Parihaka on the Taranaki coast. In an attempt to quell the non-violent direct action taken by the community against land confiscations, the government sent over 1500 troops into the village. Many people were expelled, ... read more

Better Lives provides a comprehensive overview of immigration in New Zealand, showing how immigration is not just an economic imperative that needs to be managed, but an opportunity to enhance people's lives.Migration is at historically high l... read more

Can a sugar tax improve public health? Even if it can, is it the right thing to do? One of New Zealand's foremost health scientists, Mike Berridge, teams up with tax expert Lisa Marriott to explore the issue.This BWB Text explains the relationship between sugar and ill-healt... read more

'The bicycle is a time machine, a link to the past. But sometimes the bicycle also feels like a link to the future - not the future we once imagined, the one with flying cars and replicators, but more like the one the Victorians might have pictured... read more

When natural disaster strikes, how much is the public entitled to know - even when the scientists aren't sure?  What obligations do they have to a general public thirsty for information about what will happen... read more

The nuclear meltdown at Fukushima ...the Fonterra botulism scare ...the Christchurch earthquakes - in all these recent crises the role played by scientists has been under the spotlight.What is the first duty of scientists in a crisis - to the government, to their emplo... read more

In 2013, Murdoch Stephens began a campaign to double New Zealands refugee quota. Inspired by his time living in Aleppo, Syria, over the next five years he built the campaign into a mainstream national movement - one that contributed to the first growth in New Zealands refugee quota ... read more

Housing affordability. Unhealthy homes. Wealth inequality. Environmental sustainability. Social mobility. The state of New Zealand housing is central to major issues confronting this country. In this wide-ranging BWB Text, leading ... read more