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Well-researched biography of challenging figure

29/4/2018

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Constant Radical: The Life and Times of Sue Bradford
by Jenny Chamberlain                      

When I first held this book and felt the weight of its 390 pages I had to wonder – do I want to know that much detail about anyone? And a one-time member of parliament at that – I being adamant in rejecting any political party affiliation. On the other hand, what I knew of this woman urged me to delve deeper. 
    Deeper revealed a family history with similarities to, and differences from, my own. It is always the differences that intrigue, and these far surpassed the others. Though our lives have been largely contemporaneous, mine felt quite safe and even featureless in comparison. 

"Hers was the profile of an educated, 70s middle-class drug-taker: a risk-taking intellectual hippie from a Bohemian background, whose father was addicted to alcohol, who lived in a nest of radicals – which doubled as a crash-pad for all-comers including Vietnam servicemen – and whose favourite pub was the haunt of dealers."
     The intrigue increased as details of the life of this woman unfolded. Riches of detail. In the 1950s and ‘60s she is labelled “stroppy and challenging”, “willful and stubborn”, the result of high intelligence and some extraordinary family influences. By age 15 she had an SIS file, sold copies of Mao’s Little Red Book to high school friends, and was a seasoned protester against the Vietnam War even before entering university. 
     In the following year or two she became even more radicalized, being involved in movements politically, socially, and gender-based. 
     Motherhood at age 24 brought another facet to her life, one that was to remain central to her being. In the following decades her energies spread to many further issues of social concern, including opposition to nuclear activity, apartheid, the 1981 Springbok tour, Maori sovereignty, poverty. She was involved in movements pro peace, feminism, environment, childcare, housing, employment, both here and overseas. By age 43 she had earned the title “veteran protester”. And all this achieved while bringing up five children! 
     Then there are the parliamentary years, when she finds herself “a legitimate member of the system she most bitterly opposed”, though also a “rare creature: the ego-free politician”.
     This biography is the result of 65 lengthy interviews with Sue, taking place over the best part of a decade, and copious other sources including a long list of other interviewees. 
     Necessarily, it gives a wider coverage than Sue herself, including details of her missionary forebears and, because of her wide-ranging involvement in so many issues, there are fascinating references to a host of other people well known in this country’s cultural and political life – artists, literary figures, academics, and more. Any New Zealander of any note or notoriety during the mid 20thcentury to the present is likely to get a mention because of some connection to the subject and the causes she espoused. No doubt there’ll be people all over the country who go first to the index to see if and how they are mentioned.
     Jenny Chamberlain’s writing is fluent, polished, and definitely not dry to read. Speaker of the House, Lockwood Smith, is said to be “gowned like Gandalf”; some of Sue’s teenage Sundays “were spent in Albert Park – lying on grass and smoking it”.
     A useful list of acronyms is given – essential given the references to organizations included – together with a bibliography and index.
     By the end of this well-researched work, I felt well rewarded. And much better informed. Had I been asked weeks ago for a one-word summary of this woman, now Dr Sue Bradford, based on my knowledge of her from media sources, I’d have considered ‘formidable’. Yes, she has been a formidable figure in NZ policies and politics, but now I know how she has pushed herself against her basic shy nature, despite poverty, need, attacks both physical and mental, loss, and heartache, to achieve all she has. 
     It needed all those pages to give a full appreciation. Having read them, it leaves me wondering how one woman has fitted so much into her life. My respects to both the subject and the author. 

Review by Bronwyn Elsmore
Title: Constant Radical: The Life and Times of Sue Bradford
Author: Jenny Chamberlain    
Publisher: Fraser Books
ISBN: 9780994136008
RRP: $39.50 (softcover)
Available: Fraser Books, 53 Essex Street, Masterton; ifgrant@xtra.co.nz or tel: 06 3771359; Nationwide Book Distributors, P O Box 65, Oxford, North Canterbury.

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Kiwi emblem cure for low morale

19/4/2018

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​The Bulford Kiwi: The Kiwi we left behind
by Colleen Brown


This is the story of an emblem on a hillside in southern England, in the shape of a large kiwi, that was created in 1919 by New Zealand servicemen waiting to return home.
​   Colleen Brown has researched both the plight of the waiting Kiwi servicemen, and their symbolic kiwi on Beacon Hill overlooking the Salisbury plains. Though the link becomes clear as the book unfolds, it takes a while to get to the creation of the iconic kiwi carved in chalk, and then in the second part we read about its resurrection.

    As Brown states, this is a social history, albeit one focussed on servicemen, not a military history. The predicament facing the soldiers returning from the Western Front after hostilities ceased in 1918 is not well known, and most became marooned in the Sling training camp for an indefinite period while ships were found to return them home. Boredom and then disease began to eat away at morale, as well as news of labour unrest on the English docks, and scheduled sailings being postponed. Into the spring of 1919 and frustrations boiled over, the result was a ‘riot’ by the lower ranks. Only a few soldiers were punished but some positive new activity had to be found.
   The idea for the symbolic kiwi to be created appears to be that of the departing New Zealand commander Brigadier-General Stewart. Although the genesis of the kiwi is somewhat sketchy, the drawing of the native bird was by Percy Blenkarne, a member of the army education unit originally from Auckland. The translation of the drawing to sloping hill site was assisted by Victor Low, a Chinese New Zealander from Dunedin who had been an engineer in the tunnelling company, famous for active service at Arras, France. The completion of the task was overseen by Harry Clark, a veteran of Gallipoli, who had to try to find 250 men each day to construct the kiwi. Eventually, mainly due to the exertions of Canterbury contingent, it was completed.
   The author sticks to the specifics of the story, and closely to the archival sources she has uncovered. After the kiwi was finished and the New Zealanders returned home the question became who would look after the huge emblem. Initially this was undertaken by an Australian shoe polish company, known as Kiwi Polish, as a mark of respect to the servicemen. The emblem was then left to grow over during World War 2, and then there were attempts to rebuild it after the war, including those of the local scout group. The New Zealand government failed to co-ordinate and pay for the local maintenance, so by 1980 some individual British soldiers came to the rescue.
   This is quite a charming story and heart-warming, but also somewhat brief. It is in a way too specific and lacks some broader context. In particular, there is no detailed map of the location of the training camps, other than a very general illustration of the south of England. Beacon Hill and the Salisbury plain are in the county of Wiltshire, but this is never made clear.
    And there is only a brief mention of the other symbols that were created by servicemen at the Australian training camps nearby. For instance, a recent episode of the TV programme 
Escape to the Country, based in Wiltshire, identified another symbol near Codford which was described as an ‘Anzac badge’. It would have been good to have more of an overview of all the symbols created in the Wiltshire hills by servicemen from down under, to provide more context for the Bulford Kiwi.
   But Colleen Brown has done a great service by bringing the story to light, and the publishers have also provided a very sympathetic design for the book.     

Review by SA Boyce
Title: The Bulford Kiwi: The Kiwi we left behind
Author: Colleen Brown
Publisher: Bateman Publishing
ISBN: 978-186953-984-9
RRP: $39.99
Available: bookshops

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Thought and caring in the production

6/4/2018

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Everyday Strength: Recipes and Wellbeing Tips for Cancer Patients
by Sam Mannering & Karen McMillan


No one wants to read this book. No one wants to need to.
    There are a lot, however, who will gain much from doing so, for it is more than its title suggests.
     Everyday Strength has a dual purpose – not only does it offer tips and recipes for those facing cancer, it’s an informative work for others when someone they care about, and for, is in that position. I fall into one of those categories.
     The advice it offers is more acceptable because it does not take a purely clinical approach but is a sharing from people who have already trodden the path to those setting out on the journey.
     Its two authors have fought melanoma and breast cancer respectively. They tell their stories in a straightforward way – briefly, not over-dramatically. Sam says – Telling my story now is about context and a platform for positivity. Karen explains her purpose for its writing – I hope that Everyday Strength will be a valuable resource for people…It has much information that I wish I’d known when I was in the middle of my own battle.
     The chapters that follow their introductions deal with the effects of various treatments, covering exhaustion, lack of appetite and weight loss, nausea, common side effects of hormone therapy, dealing with pain and discomfort, the symptoms you don’t want to talk about, hair care and skin care and nails, emotional wellbeing.
     These chapters are separated by sections with recipes selected to minimize unwanted side effects. They cover drinks, soups, salads, mains, baking and desserts. Each of these sections, as with the best quality cookbooks, is beautifully illustrated with full-page full colour photographs.
    Then comes the hardest part for anyone to accept – a chapter on caring for children with cancer. Again, this one discusses effects of treatment, and also the emotional support of the patient and their siblings. This too is accompanied by a separate section of recipes, chosen to appeal to children.
     Much thought and caring has gone into the production of this book.  It’s a high quality volume – hardback, beautifully presented on top quality paper. Some of the thoughts in the text repeated as quotes in a side column are printed in a pale shade and can be a little hard to read, but that’s a small quibble.
    More importantly, it’s clear throughout that this has been written by someone who has been there. Overall,it strikes just the right balance in presenting facts, feelings (It’s ok to have a good cry when you feel the need), practical advice, and recipes. There’s no doubt that this is a book that will be appreciated by many forced to face some form of this illness.

Review by Meg
Title: Everyday Strength: Recipes and Wellbeing Tips for Cancer Patients
Authors: Sam Mannering and Karen McMillan Publisher: Auckland University Publisher: Beatnik Publishing
ISBN: 97809941138361
RRP: $44.99
Available: bookshops

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