This bold anthology brings together for the first time in one volume New Zealand's major writing, from Polynesian Mythology to the Yates' Garden Guide, from Allen Curnow to Alice Tawhai, Julius Vogel to Albert Wendt, the letters of Wiremu Te Rangikaheke to the notebooks of Katherine Mansfield. In an imaginative selection and with illuminating introductions, editors Jane Stafford and Mark Williams range across genre and form. For students and readers, at home and overseas, this anthology will be the indispensable introduction to what's worth reading and why.