No Other Home Than This: a history of European New Zealanders - John Andrews

When Europeans came to New Zealand they brought with them a culture and world view, shaped over thousands of years, that determined their values and attitudes, their food and shelter, their occupations and recreation. In the crates and portmanteaus carried off the ships were the biological and material trappings of that culture.

Looking back from the familiar stories of Maori and European arrival and contact, into the deeper past, interesting questions arise. What were the ultimate origins of European New Zealanders? What values, attitudes and cultural baggage did they bring with them? What sort of people were they and how did they adapt to and change their new environment? What does the heritage of Europe mean to New Zealanders? What did it take for Pakeha to develop a feeling of belonging and gain a sense of place?

No Other Home Than This tells this epic and fascinating story with a broad sweep through time and across the globe. Beginning with the ancient journey of proto-Europeans from Africa to the Middle East some 80,000 years ago, John Andrews then charts the movements of people and agriculture into and across Europe, highlights aspects of their cultural development and identity, and traces their later dispersal to the farthest parts of the earth – in particular, New Zealand. He looks at the adaptations and changes made by Europeans after their arrival in this country, how they came to understand this alien land, and how, in time, these remote islands became the only place they could call home.

Carefully researched and engagingly written for a general audience, No Other Home Than This is a wide-ranging account of the physical, biological and cultural journey of Pakeha New Zealanders from earliest origins to Aotearoa.

John Andrews was head of the School of Biological Sciences at Victoria University before retiring in 2001. He began his biological creer as a trainee scientist with the New Zealand Forest Service then embarked on an academic career, teaching and researching in universities for more than 40 years. After his retirement, he held honorary positions at Victoria University and, more recently in the School of Geography, Geology and Environmental Sciences at Auckland University.

He has had a long interest in history, largely expressed in works related to zoological history, early naturalists and biological illustrators. His first major books was The Southern Ark: Zoological discovery in New Zealand 1769-1900 (1988).

Craig Potton Publishing, 2009 (first edition).

ISBN: 9781877517082

Condition: secondhand hardback in very good condition. This title is out of print.