Following Professor J.C. Reid's untimely death, Peter Cape was asked to revise this book for a new edition and bring it up to date. From the discovery of New Zealand in 1642 by Abel Tasman to the present day, there's been no lack of discerning chronicles of its pioneering life and of the gradual emergence of a distinctive society in New Zealand. With the development of a vigorous native literature, the New Zealand imagination, too, has revealed itself as a highly individual one. Drawing generously upon both records and creative writing, J.C. Reid and Peter Cape have produced a wide-ranging anthology which gives a vivid impression of the country, its history and its people.