The Bookmen's Dominion

"The Bookmen's Dominion recovers an almost forgotten chapter in New Zealand's ongoing conversation about itself. From the 1920s, scholars, critics, historians, librarians and literary lawyers were crucial gatekeepers of poetic taste and New Zealand's historical awareness. They acted as go-betweens for authors and publishers, championed women writers and organised New Zealand's first readers' and writers' festival. Eleven of them wrote a murder mystery together. While their tastes and their brand of masculinity were later to be fiercely challenged by a new and opinionated generation, these 'bookmen' managed to be gentlemanly yet blokey, respectable yet mildly bohemian, and they balanced an appreciation of poetry and history with freelance journalism and comic writing.

Examining the way changes in ideas and tastes were related to a shift in the country's cultural power bases, The Bookmen's Dominion revises the myths entrenched under later generations and re-evaluates the contributions of this fascinating set of people."--Jacket.