Tutira: The Story of a New Zealand Sheep Station (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Classics - Originally Published in 1921) [Facsimile] [Paperback]

Herbert Guthrie-Smith (Author), H. Guthrie-Smith (Author), William Cronon (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 1999

The foreword (by William Cronon, U. of Wisonsin-Madison) passionately sets forth the reasons for reprinting this work which was first published in 1921, and has remained obscure outside of New Zealand. He identifies it as "one of the great English- language classics of environmental history," and t

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Product Details

• Paperback: 536 pages
• Publisher: University of Washington Press (May 31, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0295977930
• ISBN-13: 978-0295977935
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,468,667 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic of environmental history, July 14, 2002

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R Boast/D Edmunds - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tutira: The Story of a New Zealand Sheep Station (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Classics - Originally Published in 1921) (Paperback)

This book, first published in 1921 in Britain and New Zealand, and now reissued in the United States with a generous and enthusiastic introduction by William Cronon, is certainly one of the strangest and at first sight most unpromising works of environmental history ever written. The book is basically an extraordinarily detailed account of the environmental history of a single sheep "station" (sheepfarm) on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand written by the lessee of the property, Herbert Guthrie-Smith. He describes in great detail the environmental transformations that he himself brought about as he cleared the forest cover from the steep hills, grassed the slopes and stocked the property with sheep. In many ways Guthrie-Smith regretted what he had to do in order to make a living.The book describes everything: clearing the land, changes in birdlife, the local geology and archaeology, the spread of noxious weeds, accelerated erosion, the complexities of exporting wool, etc etc. Guthrie-Smith was from Scotland and the book is written in an old-fashioned heavily literary style, but it is well worth persisting with. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is Guthrie-Smith's descriptions of his Maori landlords, from whom he leased his farm but who were a lot poorer than he was. One can see from his pages how the present day sheepfarming landscape of the North Island was created, and at what cost: a true classic, but for serious environmental historians only.