‘The war caused revolutionary changes at all levels: it proved to be a stimulus for the Māori leadership at home as well as laying the basis for new developments in the following years. This book provides a lens for understanding the years both before and after the war.’
‘I te mutunga mai o te Pakanga, ka puta he ao hou mō te iwi Māori. I kā te ahi o te rangatira, i takoto whāriki hoki mō ngā tau e whai atu nei. He pukapuka tēnei e whai māramatanga mō te ā-mua me te ā-muri o te Pakanga.’
Kua huakina te tatau kia rongo te ao i ngā mahi rangatira i whakatutuki, i kawea e ngā taitamāhine, e ngā hapū me ngā iwi Māori i raro i ngā kaupapa whānui nei. He awa mōhio kua karapīpiti, he rangi mārama kua mahea. Ka taunaki ake i konei e te iwi . . . Hokona, pānuitia! Tangihia, arohatia.
''Sir Apirana Ngata spoke of Māori contribution to the war effort as the price of citizenship; it is a price which should not have had to be paid, and this book reminds us what a huge opportunity for Māori self-determination was destroyed by the power structure at war’s end.’
‘Ki a Tā Apirana Ngata he utu te mahi Pakanga kia ōrite te tū o te Māori ki tō te Pākehā, engari he utu me kaua e utua. Hei whakamaumahara tēnei pukapuka mō te āheitanga kia mau i te iwi Māori te tino rangatiratanga i kapohia e te kāwanatanga i te mutunga o te Pakanga.’
Kuarongo pai te iwi mo nga mahi a nga tupuna hoia, engari, he aha ra nga korero mote hunga i noho tonu ai ki te kainga?Wehave heard the heroic story of the Maori Battalion, but what of the Maoripeople who remained at home?
Auckland University Press
