I won this book in a LibraryThing Early Reviewer Lottery but it never arrived. So, I decided to buy a copy from an internet source because it is about the country of my birth and it's Maoriness. I have always been a fan of things Maori and the concept of Kaitiakitanga is a new one to me. I started the book this morning half expecting to be pompously harangued by a well-meaning author I have not yet encountered. I quickly finished the introduction and decided to come immediately to the computer and start this review because Richard Bangs's style and thoughts have already excited me. And, so far, I haven't got into any of the "New Zealand" bits. More soon.
I've finished it and now I can tell you that Richard Bangs is a good writer and a caring kind of guy. I liked the way he tells of his dealings with Maori and Pakeha activists and non-activists who just live the concept. How much his Menasha Ridge editors had to do with his choice of words and style I can't tell, but I really enjoyed the style and the choice of words, particularly the descriptives.
The concept of Kaitiakitanga is almost impossible to pidgeonhole in English. Our language can't really do it. It's not a spiritualist language. Kaitaikitanga is an acceptance of the human's place as just one of nature's wonderful evolutions, an acceptance of the responsibility we have to the time and place we exist in, a knowledge that we have an obligation to coexist in it, manage our use of it and guarantee the rights to it, of all nature's evolutions - now and in the future.
As lover of a book as a physical entity, I was a bit disappointed in the end product. I would have liked it to have been a little bigger, the black and white pictures to have been bigger and better printed and for it to have had a cloth cover and dust jacket. I'm a traditionalist. I looked for but couldn't find a statemnet that it tried to follow some of the "rules" of Kaitiakitanga and be manufactured from recycled materials. Silly, I guess, I like books to be the way they always used to be but I support screw caps on wine bottles. Oh well.
I can tell you this, though, I liked the book, its message and its use of our english language so much that I am recommending it to my wife's book club - and any other book club member who happens to be reading this. ( )

As with another Richard Bangs book, The Quest For Kaitiakitanga is slightly different in its outlook. The Ancient Maori consider themselves the 'guardians of the land', not unlike our own Native American unon our soil. But with an eye on the eco-movement bangs shows us how the Maori way is slowly becoming the modern way for us to live and prosper as a race. Bangs is no armchair traveller, he is out there, hiking, climbing and kayakking in and around and through the wilds of New Zealand offereing wonderful descriptions of the breathtaking landscapes. Almost makes you want to book a flight right this minute! A terriffic read, and a great one for the shelf to read over and over again. ( )