New Zealand in the Twentieth Century

This is an accessible social history of life in New Zealand throughout the twentieth century, a time before most of us were born, as well as a period within which most of us have lived. Superbly researched and carefully chosen incidents and passages of history have been selected to tell our story, using diary entries, newspaper quotes, parliamentary records and a wide and diverse reading of the social record.

Paul Moon brings our immediate past to life through common themes we can all understand. While commerce, politics and racial integration are obvious choices, less obvious but equally relevant are the changing fashions in clothing, architecture, music and how we shopped, drank and entertained ourselves.
As the first to encompass the entire century, Paul Moon can be said to be continuing the work of emminent historians, such as the late Michael King and Keith Sinclair. His book examines those aspects of our history that have defined us as a nation, a process that may have begun in the nineteenth century, but gathered speed as we moved away from our colonial origins and towards independent nationhood.

While researched with academic rigour, the book is nonetheless nonacademic. In this superb and significant new work, New Zealanders of every persuasion can trace their stories and see how they fit into the cultural mix that makes us all Kiwi.