The Camera in the Crowd: Filming New Zealand in Peace and War, 1895-1920

Description

Filming and cinema quickly won the hearts of New Zealand from the mid-1890s, yet the story of the cameramen and the film they took here and in the First World War has never been fully captured. This attractive hardback brings to fruition years of original research and archival work by esteemed historian Christopher Pugsley (Gallipoli), and features over 200 photos and illustrations.

Christopher Pugsley is one of New Zealand's leading military historians. A retired Lieutenant-Colonel in the New Zealand Army, he was a lecturer in military studies in New Zealand and Australia, and retired in 2012 as a Senior Lecturer at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. Recent works include a new edition of The Anzac Experience: New Zealand, Australia and Empire in the First World War, and A Bloody Road Home: World War Two and New Zealand's Heroic Second Division. He is historical director of the 'Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War' exhibition at Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, which is attracting huge crowds.

"A daunting, definitive and interactive history of how moving pictures first arrived in Aotearoa... Pugsley delivers many intriguing stories of how the movies first took hold in pre-war New Zealand and of the pioneers of making and exhibiting them here." - Russell Baillie, Noted, February 2018 "Told in his characteristically straightforward and engaging style, Pugsley combines these twin interests in The Camera in the Crowd, which brilliantly brings to life the first years of film-making in New Zealand through war and peace." - Howard Davis, Scoop, December 2017 "The Camera in the Crowd is the type of book you will dip in and out of as the mood takes you... Dont be fooled into thinking this book will only appeal to history buffs because it deserves a much wider audience that that. Those with an interest in early movie making will find it illuminating (pardon the pun), while those with an interest in society and how it evolved will enjoy reading the historical reports and items from newspapers of the time" - Faye Lougher, The Reader, December 2017