Vincent O'Malley was the first PhD graduate in New Zealand Studies from Victoria University of Wellington. He is the author of Agents of Change: Maori Committees in the 19th Century, a co-author of The Beating Heart: A Political and Socio-Economic History of Te Arawa and a co-editor of The Treaty of Waitangi Companion (AUP, 2010). He runs HistoryWorks, a private Wellington-based company specialising in Treaty research and reports.

Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- List of Abbreviations -- 1. Introduction -- 2. First Encounters -- 2.1 Becoming Maori, becoming Pakeha -- 2.2 Before the middle ground - Tasman and the time of mutual incomprehension -- 2.3 Cross-cultural travels: Cook, Banks and Tupaia in Aotearoa -- 2.4 The French connection: Jean-Francois Marie de Surville in Tai Tokerau -- 2.5 The tribe of Marion': Marion du Fresne's bloody encounter -- 3. Strangers Landing in Strange Lands -- 3.1 Kawana Kingi and the Norfolk Island connection -- 3.2 A native abroad: Savage and Moehanga -- 3.3 A tragic liaison: George Bruce and Atahoe -- 3.4 Deepsea whalers and Maori -- 3.5 Clashing cultures: the burning of the Boyd -- 3.6 A regal visit: Hongi Hika in London and the aftermath -- 3.7 Kupe's journe -- 4. On the Middle Ground: Maori and Pakeha, c. 1814-1840 -- 4.1 Importing missionaries: Ruatara and Marsden -- 4.2 The missionary challenge -- 4.3 Saving souls abroad: Tuai and Titere in England -- 4.4 Southern sealers and whalers -- 4.5 Middle New Zealand: early interactions in the Cook Strait region and further north -- 4.6 Jumping ship: further European settlement in the north -- 4.7 Learning to get along with one another: the nature of Maori and Pakeha relationships before 1840 -- 5. Trading Relationships: The Commercial Frontier -- 5.1 Commerce and gift exchange -- 5.2 Trade and agriculture -- 5.3 Selling services -- 5.4 New wants and needs -- 5.5 Ownership and use rights -- 5.6 'Tuku whenua' and land dealings -- 6. Sex on the Frontier -- 6.1 Sex and sailors -- 6.2 The sexual politics of the frontier -- 7. Subverting Conversion? Religious Encounters -- 7.1 Understanding Maori 'conversion' -- 7.2 A unique form of Christianity? -- 7.3 Tapu and other customs -- 8. The Political World of Aotearoa before 1840 -- 8.1 The evolving role of rangatira in the pre-Waitangi era -- 8.2 Taua muru -- 8.3 Runanga and komiti -- 8.4 A dying people? 9. The Impact of Cultural Encounter on the New Zealand Frontier -- 10. The End of the Middle Ground, c. 1840-1860 -- Notes -- Bibliography.