Dance of the Peacocks: New Zealanders in Exile in the Time of Hitler and Mao Tse-Tung

by James-mcneish

Letters and diaries.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

480 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly amazing story about the first four New Zealand Rhodes scholars who left NZ to conquer the world, the rise of communism, World War Two and the entanglement of the men in historic events of global significance. The book is densely packed with detail and McNeish has done a remarkable job in piecing it all together. Perhaps there is too much information as the essential story of each person could be told a lot more sparsely. World War Two defined them as individuals and after the war ended some of them prospered and some of them never recovered. This book is an important account of the roles played by some extraordinary mid 20th century New Zealand intellectuals whom most NZers have never heard of.