Michael King bibliography entry
A national history as a guide, not a substitute
Michael King’s The Penguin History of New Zealand is recorded in the Whale Song bibliography. A national synthesis can place Kāpiti’s changing political and economic position within a wider nineteenth-century narrative, but it does not replace site-specific sources.
For example, the rise of shore whaling, Māori engagement with overseas trade and the later transformation of coastal settlement are all national themes with particular local expressions. The local details still require dated station records, iwi histories, archaeological evidence and the council’s district chronology.
The Penguin History of New Zealand is listed in the original Whale Song bibliography.
National history and local evidence
Michael King’s historical writing provides wider context for Māori and settler New Zealand. The local story should still be anchored in iwi and hapū accounts, named archival records and archaeological evidence; a national synthesis and a place-specific primary record serve different purposes.