Author(s): John Crawford

NZ Non Fiction

Kia Kaha: New Zealand in the Second World War, a collection of essays by leading New Zealand and overseas historians, is the most important book on New Zealand's involvement in the Second World War to appear for many years. The twenty-one essays in the collection contain many new insights into New Zealand's role in the war and demonstrate the disproportionately large contribution this nation made to the Allied cause. Subjects covered include:

• strategy


• command in war


• the operations of the New Zealand Armed Forces


• the home front


• the scientific war


• the founding of the United Nations

Several essays examine how New Zealand's efforts and policies relate to those of its allies. General themes that emerge from the book include the strain New Zealand's mobilisation for war put on its human and material resources and the difficulty small nations have making their voices heard when matters of the utmost importance are being decided by their much more powerful allies. The readable and well-illustrated book provides an authoritative assessment of New Zealand's part in the great struggle that gripped the world between 1939 and 1945.