About

An Hour with Stevan Eldred-Grigg

New Zealand historian and novelist Stevan Eldred-Grigg has never been afraid to challenge received wisdom in his narrative non-fiction and his latest book, The Great Wrong War, is no exception.

He argues that, for New Zealand, the First World War was wholly avoidable, wholly unnecessary and almost wholly disastrous. Its enormous cost was much too high, and its effects, social and cultural, are still being felt today. He asks, among other things, why we went to war in Europe and how united the country was in its desire to fight for the empire.

Stevan won the $35,000 Copyright Licensing Limited scholarship to write his last, critically acclaimed history, Diggers, Hatters & Whores. His first much-loved novel, Oracles and Miracles, was published in New Zealand in 1987. He has written eight other novels and his histories include A Southern Gentry, A New History of Canterbury, Pleasures of the Flesh, Working People, The Rich and Xin Xilan de Wenxue Lucheng.

Stevan will talk with historian and author Jock Phillips, the general editor of Te Ara: The On-line Encylopedia of New Zealand.