The Mighty Totara: The Life and Times of Norman Kirk

A major biography of arguably New Zealand's greatest modern political leader As Norman Kirk’s body lay in state near the steps of Parliament on the day after his death on 31 August 1974, a kaumatua wailed ‘the mighty totara has fallen’. The lament reflected what many New Zealanders felt about this big, commanding and loved leader, dead at just 51. More than 30,000 people filed past Kirk's casket over two days, and again in Christchurch, in a commemoration that matched only Michael Joseph Savage'