October 2019 marks the 250th anniversary of Captain James Cook’s first landfall in New Zealand. One Hundred Days that Mapped a Nation marks this historic occasion by looking at Cook’s intrepid journeys to New Zealand and the Pacific that were unprecedent... read more

First published in 1958, this is the classic collection of myths relating to that cradle of Maori culture, Rotorua - with relevance across New Zealand Rotorua is one of New Zealand's most visited cities. It is impossible to avoid the area's Maori history and, in... read more

Filming and cinema quickly won the hearts of New Zealand from the mid-1890s, yet the story of the cameramen and the film they took here and in the First World War has never been fully captured. The Camera in the Crowd does th... read more

A truly unique insight into the impact the Second World War had on the iwi of the central North Island and Bay of Plenty districts (including Te Arawa, Ngati Tuwharetoa, Tuhoe, Whanau-a-Apanui, Ngati Maru and Ngati Paoa) f... read more

Acclaimed historian Matthew Wright explores the evolution of New Zealand's most historically significant document, the Treaty of Waitangi, from its origins to its place in the present day. From the early cultural collisions between Maori and Pakeha that led to this landmar... read more

When writer and historian Peter Wells found a cache of family letters amongst his elderly mother's effects, he realised that he had the means of retracing the history of a not-untypical family swept out to New Zealand during the great nineteenth-century hu... read more

The Battle of Pukehinahina-Gate Pa was a defining moment in New Zealand history. It brought together forces representing the British Empire's military machine, political manoeuvering and settler land hunger, Maori notions of sovereignty and self-determination, Christian ideals... read more

A rich, complex and engaging account of Cook's voyages across the Pacific, from actor and raconteur Sam Neill, in which Sam Neill retraces Cook's footsteps, in the 250th anniversary year of Cook's first voyage. Captain James Cook first set s... read more

The Sāmoan Islands are virtually unique in that tattooing has been continuously practised with indigenous techniques: the design of the full male tattoo, the pe'a, has evolved in subtle ways since the nineteenth century, but remains as elaborate, mean... read more

The story of the 19th century New Zealand Wars, a part of New Zealand's history that many people wish they knew more about. The book describes how the wars came about, where and when they were fought, who was involved, and how they affected women and children. It explains th... read more

At the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month each year New Zealanders remember the end of the First World War. Armistice Day. Kiwi soldiers returned home to a terrible influenza epidemic, as the population grieved for the loss of life. Memor... read more

In search of 'ghosts on the road', Mark Wallbank, founder of Haunted Auckland, goes roadtrippin' with his ghost hunting gadgets, cameras and other recording equipment to investigate paranormal legends and Auckland's allegedly haunted locations. Join Mark as he sets out... read more