The New Oxford History of New Zealand tests the idea that New Zealand history can be explained as a quest for 'national identity' and considers whether narratives that rely on the 'colony-to-nation' storyline are still relevant in the early twenty-first century. The book proposes instead that history and identity have been shaped by culture, community, class, region and gender, and that these have been (and remain) more important than ideas of evolving nationhood. All the chapters in this book feature new and previously unpublished research, informed by international as well as interdisciplinary scholarship and in keeping with the aim of the book to set the agenda for future historical research imperatives. Chapters showcase research that explores trans-national, comparative and regional contexts.