Ian McGibbon ONZM worked as an historian in the Ministry of Defence, Department of Internal Affairs and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage during his 44-year career as a public historian. Specialising in diplomatic and military history, he wrote or edited twenty books, including official histories of New Zealand’s involvement in the Korean and Vietnam wars and the Western Front. He edited the Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History and several collections of diplomatic documents. He is a life member of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, and has edited its publication New Zealand International Review since 1981.