1
of
1
Why Memory Matters
'Remembered histories' and the Politics of the Past
Series: BWB Texts
Brief Description
'Behind the foreground narratives of justification, real or symbolic wounds are stored in the archives of cultural memory.' From curriculum to commemoration to constitutional reform, our society is in the grip of memory, a politics and culture marked by waves of loss, grief, absence, and victimhood....
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$1700
$2000
Elsewhere:
Unit price
/
Unavailable
OVERNIGHT NZ-WIDE DELIVERY
Found a better price? Request a price match
Why Memory Matters
$1700
$2000
Elsewhere:
Unit price
/
Unavailable
Latest News
A Seven Sharp Visit and a Huge Thank You!
It's been a busy last week at Rawiri Place before our big move, with a...
What I Read (and Played) in Bali
I always read more when I travel. Thereβs the flight over, the hotel breakfast where...
A Puzzle for Every Season: Why I Love Seasonal Puzzles
From spooky Halloween puzzles to floral spring scenes and Christmas favourites we bring out every...
The Book Briefing - September 16th
This week there are so many exciting new book announcements out and about with covers,...
Every crime/thriller Novel Lizzy has read this year (so far!)
Lizzy is sharing her crime and thriller reads for 2026 so far and giving you...
See moreHistorian Rowan Light offers a series of case studies about local debates about history in New Zealand. These provisional judgements of the past illuminate aspects of what it means to remember - and why it matters.
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
'Behind the foreground narratives of justification, real or symbolic wounds are stored in the archives of cultural memory.'
From curriculum to commemoration to constitutional reform, our society is in the grip of memory, a politics and culture marked by waves of loss, grief, absence, and victimhood.
Why are certain aspects of the past remembered over others, and why does this matter?
In response to this fraught question, historian Rowan Light offers a series of case studies about local debates about history in New Zealand. These provisional judgements of the past illuminate aspects of what it means to remember - and why it matters.
Why Memory Matters explores these themes, providing crucial insights into the power of memory in shaping cultural and political landscapes.
Series: BWB Texts
View all-
-
Imagining Decolonisation
Decolonisation is a term that scares some and gives hope to others. It is an uncomfortable and bewildering concept for many New Zealanders, yet it is needed if we are going to build a country that is fair and equal for all who live there. Imagining Decolonisation sets out the case for decolonisation by illuminatingβthrough anecdotal, real-life examplesβwhat decolonisation might...Paperback$1700Elsewhere:$2000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Pakukore
'Poverty in Aotearoa is not accidental. It is designed into our systems, our institutions, and our policies.' Poverty is not the result of individual failure or misfortune. It is a product of the design of our economic and institutional systems. Pakukore brings together leading thinkers and practitioners to expose the systemic nature of poverty in Aotearoa and explore pathways for...Paperback$1700Elsewhere:$2000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Wealth and New Zealand
The most recent NBR Rich List has revealed the biggest proportional increase in wealth since the list first appeared in 1986. But what do these figures mean and what else do we know about New Zealand's fortunes? Following his groundbreaking work on income inequality, Max Rashbrooke examines how wealth shapes our experience in Wealth and New Zealand. Drawing on previously...Paperback$2000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 1 week -
Old Asian, New Asian
In 2010, the Human Rights Commission found that Asian people reported higher levels of discrimination than any other minority in New Zealand. Yet although anti-Asian prejudice has a long history in New Zealand, it is seldom publicly acknowledged. Old Asian, New Asian by K. Emma Ng shines light onto the persistence of anti-Asian sentiment in New Zealand. Her anecdotal account...Paperback$2000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Privilege in Perpetuity
'The idea of MΔori privilege continues to be deployed in order to constrain MΔori aspirations and maintain the power imbalance that colonisation achieved in the nineteenth century.' The 'idea of MΔori privilege', as Peter Meihana describes it, is deeply embedded in New Zealand culture. Many New Zealanders hold firm to the belief that MΔori have been treated better than other...Paperback$1700Elsewhere:$2000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 1 week -
Towards a Warmer World: What Climate Change Will Mean for New Zealand's Future
As new thresholds are breached, acclaimed Radio New Zealand science writer Veronika Meduna explores our future in a warmer world. Beginning with lessons from our ancient geological past, this BWB Text draws on current observations and increasingly sophisticated climate models to describe possible end-of-century scenarios for New Zealand. Distorted ecosystems, extreme weather, new landscapes and adapted foods are just some...Paperback$2000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 1 week -
Time of Useful Consciousness: Acting Urgently on Climate Change
Our climate is changing, in ways that will have long-term impacts for us and for our children. Yet still we fail to take meaningful action. Why? And when will it be too late? Ralph Chapman argues that we have only 'a small and shrinking window of time' before the pressures from climate change become too great for us to address...Paperback$2000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 1 week -
The Edge of Life: Controversies and Challenges in Human Health
The gap between rapid scientific progress and public understanding faces unprecedented challenges. Leading research scientist Mike Berridge explores this troubled ground from a rare vantage point. His descriptions of stunning new advances in human health are offset by hard questions about society's ability to keep pace. This exploration brings us into contact with hotly contested public health issues, such as...Paperback$2000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 1 week -
The Broken Estate
It is easy to look at the extremity of 'post truth' politics in the US and conclude that we must be doing something ok in New Zealand. But in many ways, the foundations of our media system are in worse shape. In the age of Trump, fake news and celebrity headlines, it is easy to despair about the future of...Paperback$2000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 1 week -
Shouting Zeros and Ones
Shouting Zeros and Ones is a vital book that serves as a call to action: to reduce online harm, protect the integrity of our digital lives, and uphold democratic participation and inclusion. A diverse group of contributors reveals the hidden impacts of technology on society and individuals, exploring policy changes and personal actions to keep the internet a force for...Paperback$2000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 1 week -
Playing for Both Sides
For novelist Stephanie Johnson, her relationship with Australia and Australians has been an ambivalent one. She has lived there for periods in her life, and her first book, a collection of short stories, was actually published in Australia. She was described then as a young Australian writer, something she says she agreed to 'for reasons that are complex and some...Paperback$2000Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 1 week
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781990046957
Publisher: Bridget Williams Books
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 01 December 2023
Country: New Zealand
Imprint: Bridget Williams Books
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Weight: 250g
More from History & Military
View all-
Saving Elli
One child. Two years in hiding. Three lives in mortal danger. In Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, near Anne Frank's house, another Jewish girl is hidden. Her name is Elli. Her father has been executed at Mauthausen concentration camp. Her mother is fleeing for her life. Elli is next. To save her, resistance couple Frits and Jo Hakkens must risk everything, concealing her...Paperback$3299Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
The Spy and the Traitor
The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre is a spellbinding Cold War thriller that unravels the true story of Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB double agent who risked everything to aid the British in the battle against Soviet oppression. In meticulously researched detail, Macintyre paints a vivid portrait of espionage, double-crossing, and unparalleled bravery, giving readers a riveting glimpse into...Paperback$2100Elsewhere:$2600Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseSuicidal Empathy
The bestselling author of The Parasitic Mind shows why empathy in politics leads to civilizational collapse. What happens when a society elevates victimhood to a virtue and decides that punishment is cruel? You get the disease Dr. Gad Saad calls suicidal empathy. And the West may be terminally infected. In his new book, Suicidal Empathy, Saad unleashes a blistering critique...Paperback$3099Elsewhere:$3799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
The Wager
THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 'The beauty of The Wager unfurls like a great sail... one of the finest nonfiction books I've ever read' Guardian 'The greatest sea story ever told' Spectator 'I cannot think of anyone who would not love this book... It is an extraordinary true story, beautifully...Paperback$2399Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseThe Cauldron
How did an elderly cleric overthrow the Shah of Iran and change the world?Why did Bin Laden attack the USA - and why did the USA destroy Saddam?How did Britain and France carve up the Middle East - and why did the Kurds never get their own state? THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE MAKING OF TODAY'S MIDDLE EAST: A SPELLBINDING...Hardback$4999Elsewhere:$6000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Discipline
Silence is complicity, but how do we confront the cost of speaking up? Sydney, May 2021. Ashraf is an academic whose career and personal life are in freefall. Hannah is a young journalist struggling to honour the voices of her community. When a Year 12 Al-Bayinnah College student is arrested for protesting a university's ties to an Israeli weapons manufacturer,...Paperback$4000Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Man's Search For Meaning
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is a profound, thought-provoking memoir and psychological exploration that delves into the harrowing experiences of life in Nazi concentration camps, intertwined with the authorβs groundbreaking theories on existential psychology. The book is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, offering a beacon of hope and a roadmap for finding purpose...Paperback$1800Elsewhere:$2100Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Shattered Lands
'A sparkling debut by an outstanding young historian' β PETER FRANKOPAN 'This book is a revelation β¦ both original and important' β MISHAL HUSAIN A history of modern South Asia told through five partitions that reshaped it. As recently as 1928, a vast swathe of Asia β India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and...Paperback$3699Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Pre-orderDad, I Want to Hear Your Story (Deluxe Edition)
Capture His Story, Honor His Legacy The Official Hear Your Story Collection Your dad's story is more than just memories-it's a journey filled with wisdom, experiences, and defining moments that shaped his life. Dad, I Want to Hear Your Story is a guided journal that gives him the chance to share those stories in his own words, creating a legacy...Hardback$4999Elsewhere:$5500Unit price /UnavailableOut 20 Nov 2026Pre-order -
Keep Calm β We Are Coming
Keep Calm β We Are Coming briefly backgrounds the New Zealand Special Air Service deployment in Afghanistan β then goes into action. While primarily training Afghan forces, in Kabul the NZSAS had to respond to a series of βspectacular attacksβ by heavily armed Taliban fighters wearing suicide vests and determined to inflict major casualties. In the words of those who...Paperback$4000Elsewhere:$4500Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
Betrayal
βTom Bower is the Inspector Morse of investigative biographers, a fluent, phlegmatic storyteller and a master of intricacies.β Sunday Times The British Crown is in crisis, with constitutional threats at home and abroad. At a landmark moment in royal history, can King Charles overcome the scandals that blight the Royal family? Can the broken bonds between the Houses of Sussex...Paperback$3499Elsewhere:$3999Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday -
New ReleaseServiceman J
A new edition of the bestselling 2024 memoir by a former NZSAS commander, on serving in Afghanistan over four deployments and operating at the edge of his limits. 'Frighteningly, devastatingly real.' - The Post In 2011, following the Taliban siege on Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel, an SAS soldier identified only as Serviceman J was awarded New Zealand's second highest military honour...Paperback$2499Elsewhere:$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips Monday
Why buy from us?
Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!
Service & Delivery
Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.
Auckland Bookstore
We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.
Our Gifting Service
Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.
History & Military lists from the team
Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!
