Our Islands, Our Selves
In 1998, David Young had Huia Publishers in Wellington publish his Woven by Water: Histories from the Whanganui River. In 2004, OUP was fortunate to publish his Our Islands, Our Selves, which has been described as the first-ever history of conservation in New Zealand. Commissioned by the Department of Conservation, this work ranges from early Maori settlement to modern society with its issues of erosion, flooding, and habitat and species loss. Not only did the author receive praise for his work, but also the Press: '[OUP] deserves congratulations and commercial success for presenting this book so attractively with hard covers, dust jacket and high-quality art paper that allows colour reproduction of illustrations, integrated throughout with the relevant text' (Chris Maclean).