The Long Forgetting is the first book-length study of New Zealand's post-colonial literary culture. Beginning with a survey of the wrenching economic, social, and cultural changes that have occurred since about 1970 - including Maori protest, the anti-tour protests of 1981, Rogernomics and Ruthanasia, the 'fiscal envelope' and the America's Cup win - it then moves back to the nineteenth century and the formation of Europeans' relationship with Maori.