New Zealand and the First World War: 1914-1919

by Damien Fenton

The first of its kind for New Zealand – a lavish, landmark production – New Zealand and the First World War dynamically illustrates 50 key episodes of our wartime life. Featuring over 500 images, many previously unpublished, the book comes with a host of memorabilia: fold-out maps, posters, booklets, letters, postcards. The complete story of New Zealand's war is brought to life in dramatic detail – our front-line experiences overseas as well as those on the home front, from the outbreak in 1914 to demobilisation in 1919. This terrible conflict was not restricted to faraway battlefields like Gallipoli and Passchendaele – it had an unparalleled impact on New Zealand society, touching nearly every family, every street and every community. Until now, no single history has explored New Zealand's role in the First World War with such breadth and colour. A defining history for a new generation.

110 pages, Slipcase

First published October 1, 2013

Reviews

[johanna (jo) · Rating 3 out of 5]

so much information + pictures, pull-outs, & recreations of documents that it was almost an overload?? I ended up skimming the second half because it was just....too much. although thorough, the actual text was dry and difficult reading. the additional information/supplements definitely make the book. the glossed copies of letters and war records made it especially unique.

[Tom · Rating 1 out of 5]

A shamelessly pro-war book which celebrates WWI as "successful and profitable" for NZ. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014...

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing achievement. Rather than a dry, text-laden account of New Zealand's involvement in the Great War, this book immerses the reader in the time, through illustrations, photographs, inserts, a whole raft of information that brings the war to life. Not to be read as a complete history of the war, from the New Zealand perspective, (the air-war section for example has several notable omissions) but rather as an overview.
The many and varied inserts include copies of letters, a YMCA booklet of abstinence advice, an instruction card for wounded NZ soldiers, the list goes on and on. Even a business card for a Parisien brothel!
The book looks as though it would cost a few hundred dollars, but retails for much less than that, probably due to the involvement of the Ministry for Culture and Heritages War History Trust.
Every school library should contain this book. Every home with a link to the great war should also.