Books

The Strangest War by Edgar Holt Putnam, 30/- reviewed by Leo Fowler I must confess that I found Edgar Holt's ‘The Strangest War’ rather disappointing. It is unlikely to impress anyone who already has any sound background of Maori history, because it appears to be mainly a digest of what has already been written. There is little evidence of the first hand research which would contribute new data, or which would allow its author to give the student a new and original perspective. Furthermore, those who are already familiar with the background to the Maori war and its personalities will be a little inclined to question the scholarship of one who states that Wiremu Tamihana was the son of Te Rauparaha, when he was in fact the son of Waharoa. It was, indeed, somewhat of an ambitious project to try to compress into 263 pages of letterpress an adequate outline of events from Hobson's time to the end of the Te Kooti campaign. The result has been, I think inevitably, an over-simplification of a historical period which teems with complications.

A Redable Introduction In spite of these criticisms of the book as an authoritative addition to the already existing literature on the period, it is not without value for those who are approaching the subject of colonisation and the resultant wars for the first time. Mr Holt, if he lacks authoritative scholarship, tells his story in an easy and attractive manner. For the beginner his book makes easy and interesting reading, and he has succeeded at least in conveying to those seeking it, a readable and compact outline of the history of the period. I suspect that this is mainly what he set out to do. If, having read ‘The Strangest War’, the reader is inspired to dig more deeply into the wide bibliography the author furnishes, Mr Holt can be considered to have done a reasonably good job.

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