A Conversation With My Country

By: Alan Duff

Narrated by: Alan Duff

A fresh, personal account of New Zealand, now, from one of our hardest-hitting writers. Following Once Were Warriors, Alan Duff wrote Maori: The Crisis and the Challenge. His controversial comments shook the country. A quarter of a century later, New Zealand and Maoridom are in a very different place. And so is Alan – he has published many more books, had two films made of his works, founded the Duffy Books in Homes literacy programme and endured ‘some less inspiring moments, including bankruptcy’. Returned from living in France, he views his country with fresh eyes, as it is now: homing in on the crises in parenting, our prisons, education and welfare systems and a growing culture of entitlement that entraps Pakeha and Maori alike. Never one to shy away from being a whetstone on which others can sharpen their own opinions, Alan tells it how he sees it.©2019 Alan Duff (P)2019 Bolinda Publishing

Critic reviews

'Duff's examination of contemporary New Zealand is a personal one ... With statistical and anecdotal back-up, Duff makes his case, often a damning one, against the worst of Pakeha and Maori society ... there is no doubt that A Conversation continues a necessary dialogue.' (Sunday Star Times)

'... a characteristically thoughtful and constructive look at the pockets of pathological behaviours our welfare state has nurtured for decades.' (Dr Bryce Wilkinson, National Business Review)

'[A Conversation With My Country] is part memoir, part provocative debate, and part firmly stated advice on how the various peoples of NZ, whatever their origins, colour, race or background should behave ... As he always is, Duff is as honest about himself as he is about others.' (Graeme Barrow, Manawatu Guardian)