An exciting announcement! The award-winning ‘Ravaged Beauty’, which is once again approaching sold out in hardcopy, is now available as an e-book.

Before the arrival of European settlers in the late 19th century, the Manawatu Region of New Zealand was a heavily wooded hinterland, its forests ringing with the sound of birds, its abundant wetlands teeming with fish and waterfowl. But within a few decades, the forest had been reduced to ashes; the swamps and lagoons were being drained away. Progress marched across the landscape in the form of farms and settlements.

It wasn’t long before nature exacted its revenge: erosion scarred the hillsides, floods ravaged farms and towns. Pollution of the rivers saw fish dying en masse. How would people meet these environmental challenges, and what lessons would there be for the future? Drawing on a rich array of sources, maps and photographs, Ravaged Beauty tells the story of environmental transformation – part of the great tide of ‘progress’ that touched every corner of the globe – with consequences that continue to reverberate today.

Available on Amazon or scoop up one of the last hardcopies from Nationwide Books.