A Nation Still in Search of a New History

Abstract

Bain Attwood ‘A Bloody Difficult Subject’: Ruth Ross, te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Making of History. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2023, 320pp.

Pākehā historian Ruth Ross is the hook for ‘A Bloody Difficult Subject’: Ruth Ross, te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Making of History. But this book is a genealogy of national proportions, charting the reception and reinterpretations of Treaty history by the Pākehā academy. In this regard, I would recommend it to all students of New Zealand historiography. But the book cannot stand alone. It scarcely gestures to other formative practitioners of history. This is simply not a justifiable choice. Specifically, Bain Attwood tries to annihilate an origin story of the nation, critiquing what he calls ‘foundational’ histories of te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi. In its place, he provides an excellent narration of the mainstream strand of Treaty historiography: that written from a perspective that prioritises Pākehā experiences and ideas. In so doing, Attwood implies that this is the only strand that matters. He is wrong.