Book Review: The Grand Electrification of the South
November 16, 2025
This book tells the social history of what we can do when economic production represents the priorities of the public, not shareholders.
A frequent lurker in the politics department, Harry’s main interests lie in the study of the people and events that have made New Zealand. Social history and political economy (the latter being the link between political and economic systems and the history therein) and a bit of geography to boot. In this respect, Bruce Jesson, Jane Kelsey, Wolfgang Rosenberg, Erik Olssen, and Bill Sutch are some authors of note. Harry also has a passing familiarity with psychology and philosophy, coupled with a predilection for photography and architecture.
This book tells the social history of what we can do when economic production represents the priorities of the public, not shareholders.
Sarah Schulman is a refreshing point of difference in producing a work that addresses the quite necessary nitty-gritty of practical politics.
The Searchers is ultimately an uplifting read in its portrait of what drives humans to pursue something greater than themselves.
Not one for pie-in-the sky dissertations, he excels not only at identifying pressure points, but also what we can do to mobilise public sentiment.