The
Penguin History of New Zealand by Michael King (pictured) has hit a slight speed bump in the form of Tony Simpson’s critique in the Listener. Simpson is a Wellington historian and ‘public servant’, and was one of the judges for the last Montana Book Awards. In his rather self-referential review, he says

... the main thing that I missed … was a sense of how the terms of the historical debate have shifted in the last three decades as our society has adjusted to the changes inseparable from the world we live in now.

And:

One of the main purposes of history, as King and I agreed at the outset, is the study of the present and what it means when it is illuminated by the past. This helps us in trying to resolve our contemporary conflicts.

Possibly King wasn't trying to write that sort of book, although it is a challenge that the Penguin History at least partially meets, even if not as fully as I would have liked.

Hmm.