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Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou: Struggle Without End
This is a history of New Zealand from a Maori perspective, encompassing the period since the origins of the Maori people. The book argues that the past 150 years have been an endless strugle by the Maori's for social justice, equality and self-determination.
462 pages, Paperback
First published December 6, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
February 5, 2017
Fucking essential reading.
March 17, 2019
I was gifted this book by the New Zealand Muslim community a few months ago after I was invited to deliver a talk about empowering Muslims. I had not taken then time to read it yet but since Friday, it's been the only book I can focus on. It details the many ways in which the British carried out violence against the indigenous Maori community, and a must read for anyone seeking to understand how that colonial violence is present today.
January 21, 2020
An incredible insight to understand why NZ is the way it is.
Māori have had all of their resources, stolen, cheated or forced from their possession.
Very sad but a must read if you want to know the truth.
Māori have had all of their resources, stolen, cheated or forced from their possession.
Very sad but a must read if you want to know the truth.
January 21, 2008
My Maori studies professor wrote this--a really good textbook.
January 1, 2016
Read this book as part of my uni studies ... Wish I had found it before!
I highly recommend
I highly recommend
August 27, 2021
Good book if you want to know New Zealand history, I would beg you to read it as an introduction. It is a Maaori view point into History and focuses on key points that are passed over by white authors such as Micheal King. I focus on a political impact over a timeline, it makes it far more impactful.
February 14, 2025
You could say “another Māori protest.” Or you could say “another Māori protest in this struggle without end,” for tears to fall.
If you're a Māori storyteller/creative the possibilities books like this provide, the hope of future exploration of Māori stories with modern tools. It’s chilling.
Produce grown over the roof of Uenuku’s house holds the tapu of his head. That food when eaten holds the weight of Uenuku’s head.
“Taniwha in Waikato” in the book “taniwha” translated as “monsters” rather than the proverbial meaning “rangatira” (amended to me by my dad).
The account of all the diseases killing tens of thousands of a small population, a careless genocide by their bad hygiene. It’s still sickening this Māori today.
I wonder if there would have been sufficient negotiations if both sides were on the same page. That those who didn’t sign didn’t maintain their same power over their domains, that there weren’t borders set up, no refuge for true Māori sovereignty, no chance for a legally divided Aotearoa is painful. That Ngai Tahu and other iwi in the South Island had no influence over the treaty’s power is tragedy too. How awesome, though war torn would a divided Aotearoa be? By now, if the British hadn’t effected obliteration of Tainui and Tuwharetoa (which would’ve caused “civil” war across the country) we would have a very interesting preservation of culture—true mana, next door to a diminished British culture.
I’m still waiting for the “rights and privileges” of British subjects as promised in the treaty, hopefully that was never amended and we can sue for future mokopuna to have a green card over there.
Chilling reading the lies signed by the man named William Fox.
Robert Maahuta, asked why Waikato settled for so little, he replied “because we’re tired of being poor.” This toward the end of more than a century of owing from the government maintains the struggle without end.
Ngati Babe is a great idea to enter Māori into the fashion world. Maybe I’ll fictionally bring it back for 2030s in a film, ’04 runway stills are available on first VIEW.
At Te Wananga o Raukawa the kitchen staff “took such pride in their work, they researched their menus and found they’d changed from trad. boil ups to balanced diets. One piece of research looked into the rate of chipping in crockery, helping get lasting replacements. This idea is whimsical, suiting a fantasy world, but it should be a common practice in hospo (just not something one would assume right away, for a place with the same menu for the past twenty years etc.) It’s more involved to statistically lean toward stronger plates, where menu investigation is common, reflecting back reflectively rather than nostalgically is involved and thoughtful.
In the middle of the book I get a call at work asking if 'The Haka Party Incident' is coming to our cinema. I hadn't heard of it as I was overseas during NZIFF and the list of upcoming releases we have showed no sign of it so I had to divert the caller towards the NZIFF online rental services just in case. Soon after the part of Walker's book dedicated to The Haka Party Incident comes up. It doesn't paint the whole picture as much of the events in the book are key details to serve as a series of events in roughly chronological order to make up Māori history. Katie Wolfe's documentary on the Haka Party filled that story in with so much humanity and extra perspectives from as far forward as today post Waitangi '24 in which the Treaty Principles Bill has been a hot topic of protest etc. It made me cry profoundly if not the Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou Ake. Ake. Ake. signs, then the aunty speaking with defiance on the topic of Māori liberation. She's prepared to struggle. We have to struggle.
I hope we get more documentaries on these moments in time that add such perspectives.
6 weeks is the longest I've dedicated to one book.
My co-worker is reading a gender studies book and has said it's opened their mind up in a stimulating way. I replied, the political mind is awakened by such books. "Political" as relating to the world we live in and the observations behind it and its people's functions.
If you're a Māori storyteller/creative the possibilities books like this provide, the hope of future exploration of Māori stories with modern tools. It’s chilling.
Produce grown over the roof of Uenuku’s house holds the tapu of his head. That food when eaten holds the weight of Uenuku’s head.
“Taniwha in Waikato” in the book “taniwha” translated as “monsters” rather than the proverbial meaning “rangatira” (amended to me by my dad).
The account of all the diseases killing tens of thousands of a small population, a careless genocide by their bad hygiene. It’s still sickening this Māori today.
I wonder if there would have been sufficient negotiations if both sides were on the same page. That those who didn’t sign didn’t maintain their same power over their domains, that there weren’t borders set up, no refuge for true Māori sovereignty, no chance for a legally divided Aotearoa is painful. That Ngai Tahu and other iwi in the South Island had no influence over the treaty’s power is tragedy too. How awesome, though war torn would a divided Aotearoa be? By now, if the British hadn’t effected obliteration of Tainui and Tuwharetoa (which would’ve caused “civil” war across the country) we would have a very interesting preservation of culture—true mana, next door to a diminished British culture.
I’m still waiting for the “rights and privileges” of British subjects as promised in the treaty, hopefully that was never amended and we can sue for future mokopuna to have a green card over there.
Chilling reading the lies signed by the man named William Fox.
Robert Maahuta, asked why Waikato settled for so little, he replied “because we’re tired of being poor.” This toward the end of more than a century of owing from the government maintains the struggle without end.
Ngati Babe is a great idea to enter Māori into the fashion world. Maybe I’ll fictionally bring it back for 2030s in a film, ’04 runway stills are available on first VIEW.
At Te Wananga o Raukawa the kitchen staff “took such pride in their work, they researched their menus and found they’d changed from trad. boil ups to balanced diets. One piece of research looked into the rate of chipping in crockery, helping get lasting replacements. This idea is whimsical, suiting a fantasy world, but it should be a common practice in hospo (just not something one would assume right away, for a place with the same menu for the past twenty years etc.) It’s more involved to statistically lean toward stronger plates, where menu investigation is common, reflecting back reflectively rather than nostalgically is involved and thoughtful.
In the middle of the book I get a call at work asking if 'The Haka Party Incident' is coming to our cinema. I hadn't heard of it as I was overseas during NZIFF and the list of upcoming releases we have showed no sign of it so I had to divert the caller towards the NZIFF online rental services just in case. Soon after the part of Walker's book dedicated to The Haka Party Incident comes up. It doesn't paint the whole picture as much of the events in the book are key details to serve as a series of events in roughly chronological order to make up Māori history. Katie Wolfe's documentary on the Haka Party filled that story in with so much humanity and extra perspectives from as far forward as today post Waitangi '24 in which the Treaty Principles Bill has been a hot topic of protest etc. It made me cry profoundly if not the Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou Ake. Ake. Ake. signs, then the aunty speaking with defiance on the topic of Māori liberation. She's prepared to struggle. We have to struggle.
I hope we get more documentaries on these moments in time that add such perspectives.
6 weeks is the longest I've dedicated to one book.
My co-worker is reading a gender studies book and has said it's opened their mind up in a stimulating way. I replied, the political mind is awakened by such books. "Political" as relating to the world we live in and the observations behind it and its people's functions.
January 2, 2023
a must read for anyone needing to know anything about the history of Aotearoa and the Māori people. in fact a must read for New Zealanders in general!! it is chock full of info, although the only downside is that it makes it an incredibly dense read - legitimately took me 6 months to get through it 😅 in saying that i will be coming back to this forever
February 9, 2021
Fantastic history starting from Pacific migration to Aotearoa/New Zealand with meticulously researched history from then onwards. Ka rawe! Highly recommend.
September 15, 2024
Excellent recounting of the history of Aotearoa | New Zealand all the way to 2004. Essential to gain a view of history from a Māori perspective.
January 11, 2025
Hugely interesting and different perspective on NZ’s history. Remember Ranginui Walker from lots of TV interviews so knew a bit about him. Unfortunately post 1840 it reads a bit like Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Although far more propositions for Maori governance than I knew (although I did know of those in HB). The last 2 chapters and Epilogue catch up with it as too much happening to record in the new Edition. So a negative is that it doesn’t conclude with a thought - just a statement on Seabed & Foreshore policy. But massively got my interest with its overall perspective. Brought in Wgtn Whitcoulls after taking the PN train home with lots of participants of the latest Hikoi (40,000!). Which made me wonder what Ranginui would have written on it in 2030 if he was still with us.
July 22, 2025
A. Must read for one interested in Māori/ Pakeha relationship. A lot of detailed material making the read sometimes heavy . The book could benefit from an update that would have to be managed by other Māori scholars.
January 3, 2020
An essential account of New Zealand history. While it is a dense read it is a critical one to understand race relations in New Zealand. Beginning with maori mythology and ending in the 2000’s this book takes you through the particular struggles which have accompanied Māori via colonisation. A struggle intimate to land relations. A struggle which unless understood imminently, will continue.
January 26, 2018
Insanely dense and sometimes mind-hurting to read, but all very important content - this is our country's history! If I'd learned just a little about Maori history in school, I'm sure it would have been a lot easier to follow.
August 21, 2014
An introduction to the history of Maori, including instructive lessons in efforts to decolonize and address institutional and cultural racism, I found this a tremendously helpful history to read.
May 15, 2023
Read this after the general New Zealand history. This one is obviously a lot more focused on Māori history and issues - extremely interesting/heart breaking.
December 15, 2025
“As land was taken; land must be returned.”
A comprehensive, foundational book on the Māori people, their history, kin structure, philosophy, and the struggle for land reclamation. This book is creation stories, archeology, history, and politics mixed into one.
The Māori are the first peoples of Aotearoa (New Zealand), “The Land of the Long White Cloud.” They descend from the Polynesian people. The Great Ocean of Kiwa (Pacific Ocean) is the waters of the Māori, Hawaiian, Samoan, Tongan, and other Polynesian-descended people.
Land is the basis of identity. The Māori word for white people or Europeans is “Pakeha”. This is a history of Māori resistance, Māori-Pakeha relations, and a story of Pakeha dominance, and Māori subjection. The book ends with the founding of the Māori Party.
The state is built by settlers for settlers. Settlers seize the land, the waters, the skies, then commodify it. They divide communal indigenous lands into individual plots (private property) for settlers to purchase, then create laws to determine rights and privileges.
Colonialism is a spiritual death. Indigenous worldviews are replaced with western epistemologies. People are forced to assimilate through schools with foreign languages (English, Spanish, French, etc.). Indigenous languages and customs become prohibited. Eurocentric curriculums are cultural murder.
Despite these colonizing efforts, the Māori went through a cultural renaissance to restore their language, identity, arts, tā moko (traditional tattooing) and brought educational reforms to increase Māori enrollment in New Zealand institutions. This renaissance coalesced into the Māori Land Rights Movement. They now engage in decolonization efforts to return land, forests, and fisheries.
A comprehensive, foundational book on the Māori people, their history, kin structure, philosophy, and the struggle for land reclamation. This book is creation stories, archeology, history, and politics mixed into one.
The Māori are the first peoples of Aotearoa (New Zealand), “The Land of the Long White Cloud.” They descend from the Polynesian people. The Great Ocean of Kiwa (Pacific Ocean) is the waters of the Māori, Hawaiian, Samoan, Tongan, and other Polynesian-descended people.
Land is the basis of identity. The Māori word for white people or Europeans is “Pakeha”. This is a history of Māori resistance, Māori-Pakeha relations, and a story of Pakeha dominance, and Māori subjection. The book ends with the founding of the Māori Party.
The state is built by settlers for settlers. Settlers seize the land, the waters, the skies, then commodify it. They divide communal indigenous lands into individual plots (private property) for settlers to purchase, then create laws to determine rights and privileges.
Colonialism is a spiritual death. Indigenous worldviews are replaced with western epistemologies. People are forced to assimilate through schools with foreign languages (English, Spanish, French, etc.). Indigenous languages and customs become prohibited. Eurocentric curriculums are cultural murder.
Despite these colonizing efforts, the Māori went through a cultural renaissance to restore their language, identity, arts, tā moko (traditional tattooing) and brought educational reforms to increase Māori enrollment in New Zealand institutions. This renaissance coalesced into the Māori Land Rights Movement. They now engage in decolonization efforts to return land, forests, and fisheries.
May 18, 2025
This is an enormously detailed and densely argued history of the colonisation of New Zealand, as told from a Māori perspective. As such, it is very much a history of injustice, of exploitation and marginalisation and land grabs, but it is also, as the latter chapters of the book especially make clear, a history of resistance - and an increasingly successful resistance at that.
Walker is an academic and it shows - it took me a long time to slowly make my way through this, but it was well worth the effort. It's the last from a list of ten books from the Spinoff Anti-Racist Reading List for New Zealanders and, not gonna lie, it's taken me years to get through those ten books. They are admittedly challenging books, both on a moral level - the history of racism in this country is appalling, and one which privilege has often allowed me to ignore - and often on a technical level as well, as they frequently grapple with concepts and jargon which are unfamiliar to me (I had to do a lot of explanatory googling with Linda Tuhiwai Smith's Decolonizing Methodologies, for example, not knowing anything about anthropological methods). So, a long reading journey, but absolutely worthwhile. I feel as if I have come away from it with a better understanding of my own country, and the history of injustice that exists here - a history that still very much impacts on the present and the future.
Walker is an academic and it shows - it took me a long time to slowly make my way through this, but it was well worth the effort. It's the last from a list of ten books from the Spinoff Anti-Racist Reading List for New Zealanders and, not gonna lie, it's taken me years to get through those ten books. They are admittedly challenging books, both on a moral level - the history of racism in this country is appalling, and one which privilege has often allowed me to ignore - and often on a technical level as well, as they frequently grapple with concepts and jargon which are unfamiliar to me (I had to do a lot of explanatory googling with Linda Tuhiwai Smith's Decolonizing Methodologies, for example, not knowing anything about anthropological methods). So, a long reading journey, but absolutely worthwhile. I feel as if I have come away from it with a better understanding of my own country, and the history of injustice that exists here - a history that still very much impacts on the present and the future.
August 14, 2022
I read the earlier edition, from 1990. A readable outline of Maori history from pre-colonial times to the late 20th century, full of useful facts. The description of the New Zealand wars, and how Maori land was confiscated, "bought" and taken by force or legal trickery, is particularly helpful. He then explains how modern Maori protest and political organisations emerged in the 20th century - covering issues such as the land rights march and the occupation of Bastion Point.
As a socialist, I don't agree with Walker's politics, which is basically bourgeois nationalism. He celebrates the emergence of Maori entrepreneurs and tribal businesses in the 1980s - at precisely the time when hundreds of thousands of Maori and non-Maori workers were being thrown out of work by Rogernomics. He also writes favourably about Maori enlisting to fight in WWII.
In his later writing (not this book), Walker railed against Asian immigration, which he sees as undermining the status of Maori. This sort of reactionary conclusion is a logical outcome of his nationalist positions.
As a socialist, I don't agree with Walker's politics, which is basically bourgeois nationalism. He celebrates the emergence of Maori entrepreneurs and tribal businesses in the 1980s - at precisely the time when hundreds of thousands of Maori and non-Maori workers were being thrown out of work by Rogernomics. He also writes favourably about Maori enlisting to fight in WWII.
In his later writing (not this book), Walker railed against Asian immigration, which he sees as undermining the status of Maori. This sort of reactionary conclusion is a logical outcome of his nationalist positions.
April 11, 2021
This is the second edition of this book. The first edition (1994) has the chapters 1-12, and the second edition has those chapters plus 13,14.
In the first edition, the book is very readable & interesting. The chapters are all 20-30 pages. As someone else has commented: "Essential". I agree.
Unfortunately the book takes a turn for the worse with the second addition. Chapters 13 & 14 are both 60 pages, and there are numerous esoteric words necessitating repeated dictionary lookups, and thus slowing the flow. In addition to these words are numerous acronyms, which are very similar and thus additionally confusing. Finally there are Appendices referred to in the text which do not exist in this version.
My recommendation would be to read the first edition of this book, or just stop reading at chapter 12.
In the first edition, the book is very readable & interesting. The chapters are all 20-30 pages. As someone else has commented: "Essential". I agree.
Unfortunately the book takes a turn for the worse with the second addition. Chapters 13 & 14 are both 60 pages, and there are numerous esoteric words necessitating repeated dictionary lookups, and thus slowing the flow. In addition to these words are numerous acronyms, which are very similar and thus additionally confusing. Finally there are Appendices referred to in the text which do not exist in this version.
My recommendation would be to read the first edition of this book, or just stop reading at chapter 12.
February 9, 2024
A bit of a slow read, since it's not exactly a page-turner, but overall a very strong manifesto of the Māori struggle against Pākehā domination. The author died in 2016, but this history only goes up to 2004, concluding with Don Brash's brief leadership of the National Party.
September 28, 2025
I originally picked this book up because I wanted a more in depth view of Maori history than what Micheal King's The Penguin History of New Zealand offered. In that regard this book certainly delivered. Not only is it a detailed and well written account of the Maori peoples struggle against colonialism, but it also offers an interesting look into Maori history as a whole. I particularly like how the book didn't fall into the trap of describing a historically oppressed people's history only through the lens of said oppression. It does a great job of celebrating the triumphs of Maori society and the people who fought for it.
I personally felt that the first half of the book was definitely stronger. This was likely because I was simply more interested in the earlier colonial period than the later 21st century, but I still feel like I should mention it as there were certainly some points near the end where the amount of detail slowed the book down slightly too much for my liking. Much more of a personal preference than an actual criticism of the book, but regardless I thought I should dock a star because of it.
Overall a great book. I think that it is a book deserving of 5 stars in how it accomplishes what it sets out to do, but for me personally 4 reflects my enjoyment of the book more.
I personally felt that the first half of the book was definitely stronger. This was likely because I was simply more interested in the earlier colonial period than the later 21st century, but I still feel like I should mention it as there were certainly some points near the end where the amount of detail slowed the book down slightly too much for my liking. Much more of a personal preference than an actual criticism of the book, but regardless I thought I should dock a star because of it.
Overall a great book. I think that it is a book deserving of 5 stars in how it accomplishes what it sets out to do, but for me personally 4 reflects my enjoyment of the book more.
September 6, 2018
Definitely the best book I read about Maori culture and history
March 13, 2020
Read in conjunction with Michael King. Outstanding.
October 31, 2020
Essential reading
February 28, 2021
Top tier and great first book when learning about Aotearoa's real history. Great resource.
April 6, 2022
Hits different each time you come back to it. Essential reading, the Māori bible
June 27, 2022
Essential reading for all Kiwis.
September 17, 2007
I purchased this book for my class about the Maori people while abroad in New Zealand. It starts with their creation and gods myths and stories and the taboos and beliefs. This is really all the farther I have gotten since I was too busy having fun in New Zealand. I am looking forward to learning more about the struggles and triumphs of the Maori people.
April 9, 2017
Essential reading for all New Zealanders.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews