What it means to own your past

Shortlisted for the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards

Nominated for the New Zealand Political Studies Association's Publication Prize

After Richard Shaw published his acclaimed memoir The Forgotten Coast in 2021, he made contact with Pākehā with long settler histories who were coming to grips with the truth of their respective families’  ‘pioneer stories’. They were questioning the foundation of aggressive acts of colonisation and land confiscation on which those stories had been constructed.

The Unsettled weaves those stories with Shaw’s own and features New Zealanders who are trying to figure out how to live well with their own pasts, their presents and their possible futures. They may be unsettled, but they are doing something about it.

It is an indispensable companion for the journey towards understanding the complex and difficult history of the New Zealand Wars and their ongoing aftermath.

To look inside, click here.

‘It is not often I read an academic book that really stays with me for some time afterwards, but this is one of those books . . . I sincerely believe that all New Zealanders, especially Pākehā, should read this book’ — Jatinder Mann, Journal of Australian, Canadian and Aotearoa New Zealand Studies

‘This courageous book is an addition to a growing literature by Pākehā ‘journeying back into the map of memory’ . . . This small but potent book will foster different conversations about the past and its connection with the present’ — Paul Diamond

‘Knowing the truth of what happened matters for all of us. Reading The Unsettled: Small Stories of Colonisation deepens our understanding of how our past histories have shaped our present lives’ — Lyn Potter, NZ Booklovers

‘An absolutely brilliant book about excavating our settler pasts to recognise the truth in those narratives in terms of land theft and the structural advantages that theft enabled. Honest, compellingly written, and without hand-wringing or virtue signalling: a useful tool for anyone wanting to feel more settled with their own histories.’ — The Spinoff

‘Shaw’s willingness to ‘let emotion in’ provides an important example for those willing to grapple with their colonial inheritance. His practical suggestions for moving beyond guilt — ranging from ‘sort your attitude out’ to writing ‘family histories that include colonial context, as well as other stuff you’d rather not know about’ — offer concrete pathways forward’ — Sam Iti Prendergast, New Zealand Journal of History