Brennan, Claire (2010) Book review of "Going Bush: New Zealanders and Nature in the Twentieth Century" by Kirstie Ross, Auckland University Press, New Zealand and "The Ways of the Bushwalker: On Foot in Australia" by Melissa Harper, UNSW Press, Australia. Environment and History, 16 (1). pp. 134-137.

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Abstract

[Extract] These are both well researched, well written books that define their topics imaginatively. Melissa Harper's book addresses the history of enjoying walking the bush: Kirsty Ross's the connections between a society and its wilderness. Both books demonstrate delicious senses of irony and both authors main sufficient intellectual distance from their topics to write excellent histories. The parallels between these two books lie more in the approach taken by their authors than in their topics. Even the environments that they deal with, though both are called 'the bush', are very different. There is some overlap between the two books- both deal with what is known as hiking in North America, tramping in New Zealand, and bushwalking in Australia- but Harper focuses on this activity and what it exposes of settler society's engagement with nature while Ross approaches the larger topic of society's engagement with its natural environment directly.

Item ID:	24857
Item Type:	Article (Book Review)
ISSN:	1752-7023
Related URLs:	Publisher
Date Deposited:	06 Feb 2013 00:38
FoR Codes:	21 HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 2103 Historical Studies > 210311 New Zealand History @ 50% 21 HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY > 2103 Historical Studies > 210303 Australian History (excl Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History) @ 50%
SEO Codes:	95 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING > 9505 Understanding Past Societies > 950503 Understanding Australias Past @ 50% 95 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING > 9505 Understanding Past Societies > 950505 Understanding New Zealands Past @ 50%
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