Canterbury University Press, 2006. 300 pages. Some shelf wear to boards and spine. Coffee stains on page ends and minor leaching onto pages 283 until 353 and back board. Minor foxing.

To nineteenth-century New Zealand, a small colony at the bottom of the Pacific, shipping was a lifeline to the rest of the world - yet a lifeline too often placed in peril by the ferocity of the weather and a long, hazardous coastline. Lighting the Coast is the first comprehensive history of New Zealand's system of 'well-placed and effective' lighthouses that were essential for 'the great maritime future' the country's government envisaged. This authoritative and highly readable book reveals the fascinating story of the siting, design, construction, operation and eventual demanning of those nineteenth - and early twentieth century monuments of engineering. It reveals much of the lives of the lighthouse keepers - practical, independent men who took their families to live in remote parts of New Zealand - and raises critical questions about the future of the historic structures. This handsome tribute to an enthralling aspect of New Zealand's history features more than 250 black and white and colour illustrations, including historic photographs, diagrams, maps and charts.