Huia Books
 Share this product | Awatere: A Soldier's Storyby Hinemoa Ruataupare Awatere (ed) Here is a story of Shakespearian dimensions: Arapeta Awatere was a humble man born in 1910 at Tuuparoa on New Zealand's East Coast. In World War Two he served his country with distinction in fierce fighting, rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and led the 28th (Māori) Battalion. Post-war he became a distinguished community leader, an acknowledged authority on tikanga Māori; he was a founding member of Outward Bound and an Auckland city councillor, and so the list goes on. He was a poet, a musician, a composer, an orator and a genealogist. In 1969, at the age of fifty-nine, his life shattered. He was convicted of a crime of passion - the murder of his mistress's lover - and he ended his years in prison. This book is part of his legacy: the passion, insight and pain left by an indomitable spirit and strong intellect whose life's work nearly foundered in one night. Awatere: A Soldier's Story gathers together his autobiography, many of his poems and waiata, and two essays. It is Arapeta Awatere in his own words, told in his inimitable style. Readers of this special book will long remember one of the great figures of twentieth-century New Zealand.
Category: Biography |