Mau : Samoa's Struggle for Freedom

On 29 August 1914 New Zealand troops landed in German Samoa and established a colonial rule that was to last almost 50 years. The new administrators were an odd assortment of benevolent misfits. Their unchecked power led to widespread racism and the distortion of justice, bureaucratic bungling caused the spread of the 1918 influenza epidemic which killed 22% of the population, and on 29 December 1929 there was "Black Saturday when the police opened fire on an unarmed peaceful demonstration, killing 9 people and wounding a further 50. This book is the story of the courageous and non violent freedom movement known as Mau. Thoroughly researched and provocative, Mau: Samoa's Struggle for Freedom is an integral chapter in the history of Samoa, NZ and the Pacific. First published in 1984 and now reprinted.