Writer prises open the past

Photo: FIONA GOODALL

PROLIFIC: Writer Paul Moon is celebrating the release of his 16th book.

Few authors can boast 16 titles by age 40. But Paul Moon is no ordinary writer.

Every spare moment is spent researching and piecing together material for his various projects.

He also works as a historian at AUT University.

The West Harbour resident’s latest book, The Edges of Empires, looks at life in New Zealand during the 1850s.

Dr Moon is professor of history at the faculty of Maori development – Te Ara Poutama.

He has two master’s degrees and a doctorate and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society at University College in London.

He poured two years into his latest book, spending up to 18 hours a day doing background research.

The end result has been met with international and local acclaim.

Professor Peter Cleave of Wolfson College, Oxford, says it is the best book he has read for the atmosphere of the time.

Professor Giselle Byrnes of Waikato University’s history department is equally complimentary.

"Moon’s book is a fresh and engaging analysis that gives lie to the thought that the 1850s were some sort of golden age for New Zealand, by prising open the complex arrangement of competing interests, challenges and pressures on Maori and the settlers," she says.

Dr Moon’s fascination with history has endured, unscathed, through a fair amount of controversy.

His last book This Horrid Practice was a fearless but unpopular exploration of Maori cannibalism.

The book sparked outrage and resulted in a complaint being made to the Human Rights Commission. Some bookstores were threatened for stocking copies.

The Edges of Empires doesn’t lack in impact either.

"Some sections are extremely intimate," Dr Moon says.

"Some people who read advance copies told me they had ended up crying after reading some passages. This tells me that they are getting close to the feeling of the period."

"Much of the information I have drawn from archives around the country, including many sources that have never been used.

"Those include diaries, private journals and correspondence from people living in the country in the 1850s. It is this sort of detail that makes this work unique, and provides the human element to history."

- © Fairfax NZ News