OUR FIRST FOREIGN WAR: The Impact of the South African War 1899-1902 on New Zealand.

• Date: 01 July 2022
• Author: Crawford, John

OUR FIRST FOREIGN WAR: The Impact of the South African War 1899-1902 on New Zealand

Author: Nigel Robson

Published by: Massey University Press, Auckland, 2021, 416pp, $55.

This significant book is the first work to look in detail at the effects in New Zealand of the colony's participation in the South African War. The author, Nigel Robson (a senior historian at the Office of Maori Crown Relations--Te Arawhiti), is to be congratulated on his careful research, which has unearthed a great range of new information and insights.

The book is divided into seven chapters that deal with: patriotism and the war; domestic reaction to the conflict; the performance of New Zealand troops in South Africa; Maori responses to the war; the conduct of New Zealand soldiers; the human cost of the war; and the war's economic impact. The book assumes at least a basic knowledge of the nature and extent of New Zealand's role in the conflict. There is a risk, therefore, that those coming to the book without such background knowledge will not get as much out of Our First...