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Revision as of 21:06, 17 January 2013 edit122.62.226.243 (talk) →Life: catholic community background← Previous edit Revision as of 22:11, 17 January 2013 edit undo122.62.226.243 (talk) →Life: Criticized by Maori, Abuse of historyNext edit →
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Although not ] himself, King was well known for his knowledge of ] and history. ''],'' one of New Zealand's most popular weekly magazines, dubbed King "the people's historian"<ref>Watkin, Tim. "The People's Historian" ''The Listener'' Vol 193 No 3335, April 10–16, 2004.</ref> for his efforts to write about and for the local populace. As a biographer, King published works on ], ], ] (1995) and ] (2000). As an historian, King's works include ''Being Pakeha'' (1985), '']'' (1989), and ''The Penguin History of New Zealand'' (July 2003), the latter of which was, by February 2004, into its seventh edition. In all, King wrote, co-wrote and edited more than 30 books on a diverse range of New Zealand topics. He contributed to all five volumes of the '']''. Although not ] himself, King was well known for his knowledge of ] and history. ''],'' one of New Zealand's most popular weekly magazines, dubbed King "the people's historian"<ref>Watkin, Tim. "The People's Historian" ''The Listener'' Vol 193 No 3335, April 10–16, 2004.</ref> for his efforts to write about and for the local populace. As a biographer, King published works on ], ], ] (1995) and ] (2000). As an historian, King's works include ''Being Pakeha'' (1985), '']'' (1989), and ''The Penguin History of New Zealand'' (July 2003), the latter of which was, by February 2004, into its seventh edition. In all, King wrote, co-wrote and edited more than 30 books on a diverse range of New Zealand topics. He contributed to all five volumes of the '']''.


King was always sensitive to the fact that he was a Pakeha writing about the Maori world and always sought to establish close personal relationships with those he wrote about and their whanau, hapu and iwi authorities. Despite being welcomed into many maori communities he was at times severely criticiced for beinga Pakeha writing about what some Maori considered privileged or tapu information. Syd Jackson and Professor Sidney Mead both complained about King extracting information from Maori. Some iwi were more open than others,Timoti Reedy in consultation with elders of the Ngati Porou iwi said they preferred to write their own tribal history. Tuhoe rejected King's approaches.In 1983 King was criticized by Keri Kaa for alleged insensitivity and Witi Ihimaera for being a Pakeha writing about Maori things. In 1985 King attracted flak from Parihaka hapu over a Parihaka film and education booklets that King had been commissioned to write about Te Whiti. In fact the film had already been removed from schools and the booklets had been approved by a series of consultations with local Parihaka hapu. King said that consultations went on for 2 years and that most of the information in the booklet had been provided by the Parihaka people. Despite this criticism King had many Maori supporters. King was aware that there were no professional Maori historians who had the necessary qualifications so helped set up a course for budding Maori writers but was somewhat dismayed to find that most of them went to work as Treaty of Waitangi historical researchers as the pay was better than for book writers King said the treaty of Waitangi Tribunal process has provided work for historians but has multiplied opportunites for the misuse and abuse of history<ref> Being Pakeha Now. M King. Penguin 2004, P 182-207.</ref>
⚫ King was a diabetic and had ]. He received six weeks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy for ] discovered in October 2003, which was in remission by 2004.

⚫ King was a diabetic and had ]. He received six weeks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy for ] discovered in October 2003, which was in remission by 2004. In 2004 he was living with his family in a commune. His wife Ros decided to live with someone else and eventually married them.<ref> Being Pakeha Now. M. King. Penguin .2004 P 133.</ref>


Following King's death, an essay on ] was posthumously published in an exhibition catalogue for the Eastern Southland Gallery, located in the provincial town of Gore, New Zealand. King had planned to write a full biography on Money, but had lacked funding to do so in his lifetime. Following King's death, an essay on ] was posthumously published in an exhibition catalogue for the Eastern Southland Gallery, located in the provincial town of Gore, New Zealand. King had planned to write a full biography on Money, but had lacked funding to do so in his lifetime.

Revision as of 22:11, 17 January 2013

For other uses, see Michael King (historian) (disambiguation).
Michael King
Michael King in 1992Michael King in 1992
Born15 December 1945
Wellington, New Zealand
Died30 March 2004(2004-03-30) (aged 58)
near Maramarua, Waikato, New Zealand
OccupationHistorian, biographer
Alma materVictoria University of Wellington, University of Waikato
Notable worksThe Penguin History of New Zealand
Notable awardsOrder of the British Empire (1988)
Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement (2003)

Michael King, OBE (15 December 1945 – 30 March 2004) was a New Zealand popular historian, author and biographer. He wrote or edited over 30 books on New Zealand topics, including The Penguin History of New Zealand, which was the most popular New Zealand book of 2004.

Life

King was born in Wellington to Eleanor and Commander Lewis King, one of four children. He was raised in a largely Irish Catholic community in the seaside area of Paremata, Wellington. As a child he was more aware of divisions between Catholics and Protestants than between Maori and Pakeha. Here he developed, what he later described, as a relationship with the land and sea,a passion for history and a love of words and music. He was educated at the Catholic schools Sacred Heart College in Auckland and St. Patrick's College, Silverstream, he went on to study history at Victoria University of Wellington before working as a journalist at the Waikato Times newspaper in Hamilton in 1968.

King earned degrees in history at Victoria, (BA 1967) and the University of Waikato (MA 1968), and gained his Ph.D. at Waikato (1978). In 1997 he received an honorary D.Litt. at Victoria. He was Visiting Professor of New Zealand Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and taught or held fellowships at six other universities.

Although not Māori himself, King was well known for his knowledge of Māori culture and history. New Zealand Listener, one of New Zealand's most popular weekly magazines, dubbed King "the people's historian" for his efforts to write about and for the local populace. As a biographer, King published works on Te Puea Herangi, Whina Cooper, Frank Sargeson (1995) and Janet Frame (2000). As an historian, King's works include Being Pakeha (1985), Moriori (1989), and The Penguin History of New Zealand (July 2003), the latter of which was, by February 2004, into its seventh edition. In all, King wrote, co-wrote and edited more than 30 books on a diverse range of New Zealand topics. He contributed to all five volumes of the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.

King was always sensitive to the fact that he was a Pakeha writing about the Maori world and always sought to establish close personal relationships with those he wrote about and their whanau, hapu and iwi authorities. Despite being welcomed into many maori communities he was at times severely criticiced for beinga Pakeha writing about what some Maori considered privileged or tapu information. Syd Jackson and Professor Sidney Mead both complained about King extracting information from Maori. Some iwi were more open than others,Timoti Reedy in consultation with elders of the Ngati Porou iwi said they preferred to write their own tribal history. Tuhoe rejected King's approaches.In 1983 King was criticized by Keri Kaa for alleged insensitivity and Witi Ihimaera for being a Pakeha writing about Maori things. In 1985 King attracted flak from Parihaka hapu over a Parihaka film and education booklets that King had been commissioned to write about Te Whiti. In fact the film had already been removed from schools and the booklets had been approved by a series of consultations with local Parihaka hapu. King said that consultations went on for 2 years and that most of the information in the booklet had been provided by the Parihaka people. Despite this criticism King had many Maori supporters. King was aware that there were no professional Maori historians who had the necessary qualifications so helped set up a course for budding Maori writers but was somewhat dismayed to find that most of them went to work as Treaty of Waitangi historical researchers as the pay was better than for book writers King said the treaty of Waitangi Tribunal process has provided work for historians but has multiplied opportunites for the misuse and abuse of history

King was a diabetic and had post-polio syndrome. He received six weeks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy for throat cancer discovered in October 2003, which was in remission by 2004. In 2004 he was living with his family in a commune. His wife Ros decided to live with someone else and eventually married them.

Following King's death, an essay on John Money was posthumously published in an exhibition catalogue for the Eastern Southland Gallery, located in the provincial town of Gore, New Zealand. King had planned to write a full biography on Money, but had lacked funding to do so in his lifetime.

He has two children, the filmmaker Jonathan King and novelist Rachael King.

Death

King and his second wife, Maria Jungowska, were killed when their car crashed into a tree and caught fire near Maramarua, on State Highway 2 in the north Waikato. The cause of the crash was reported by the police at the time to be a complete mystery since speed was not a factor and investigators have little idea why the car would veer off a straight road.

A coroner's inquest into the deaths determined that the accident was most likely caused by driver inattention.

Awards

King was winner of the 2003 Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in Non-Fiction. Throughout his career he won the Feltex Television Writers' Award (1980), Winston Churchill Fellowship (1980), Fulbright Visiting Writers' Fellowship (1988), Order of the British Empire (1988), NZ Literary Fund Award (1987 and 1989), Wattie Book Of The Year Award (1984 and 1990), NZ Book Award (non fiction) (1978) and was Burns Fellow at the University of Otago (1998–99). His book The Penguin History of New Zealand was overwhelmingly the Readers' Choice at the 2004 Montana NZ Book Awards. The New Zealand Herald named him New Zealander of the Year for 2003.

Bibliography

  • Moko: Maori Tattooing in the 20th Century (1972)
  • Make it news: how to approach the media (1974)
  • Face value: a study in Maori portraiture (1975)
  • Te Ao hurihuri: Aspects of Maoritanga (ed.) (1975)
  • Te Puea: a biography (1977)
  • Tihe mauri ora: Aspects of Maoritanga (ed.) (1978)
  • New Zealand: Its Land and Its People (1979)
  • The Collector: A Biography of Andreas Reischek (1981)
  • Being Maori - John Rangihau (1981)
  • New Zealanders at War (1981)
  • A place to stand: a history of Turangawaewae Marae (1981)
  • G.F. von Tempsky, artist and adventurer (with Rose Young) (1981)
  • New Zealand in colour (1982)
  • Maori: A Photographic and Social History (1983)
  • Whina: A Biography of Whina Cooper (1983)
  • Te Puea Herangi: from darkness to light (1984)
  • Being Pakeha: An Encounter with New Zealand and the Maori Renaissance (1985)
  • Auckland (with Eric Taylor) (1985)
  • Kawe korero: A guide to reporting Maori activities (1985)
  • Death of the Rainbow Warrior (1986)
  • New Zealand (1987)
  • After the War: New Zealand since 1945 (1988)
  • One of the boys?: changing views of masculinity in New Zealand (1988)
  • Apirana Ngata: e tipu e rea (1988)
  • Moriori: A People Rediscovered (1989)
  • A Land Apart: The Chatham Islands of New Zealand (1990)
  • Pakeha: The quest for identity in New Zealand (1991)
  • Hidden Places: A Memoir in Journalism (1992)
  • Coromandel (1993)
  • Frank Sargeson: A Life (1995)
  • God's Farthest Outpost: A History of Catholics in New Zealand (1997)
  • Nga iwi o te motu: One thousand years of Maori history (1997)
  • Being Pakeha Now: reflections and recollections of a white native (1999)
  • Wrestling with the Angel: A Life of Janet Frame (2000)
  • Tomorrow comes the song: A Life of Peter Fraser (with Michael Bassett) (2000)
  • Tread Softly For You Tread On My Life: new & collected writings (2001)
  • An Inward Sun: The World of Janet Frame (2002)
  • At the Edge of Memory: A family story (2002)
  • Penguin History of New Zealand (2003)
  • The Silence Beyond (2011) (selected writings)

See also

References

  1. "Ten years of NZ books". The New Zealand Herald. 8 February 2009. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
  2. Being Pakeha Now. M. King.P 27-31 Penguin.2004
  3. Watkin, Tim. "The People's Historian" The Listener Vol 193 No 3335, April 10–16, 2004.
  4. Being Pakeha Now. M King. Penguin 2004, P 182-207.
  5. Being Pakeha Now. M. King. Penguin .2004 P 133.
  6. Boyes, Nicola (February 25, 2005). "Historian's death puzzles coroner". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
  7. Watkin, Time (20 December 2003). "Herald New Zealander of the Year: Michael King". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 26 July 2010.

External links

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