Speaking truth to power

This is a book about a contentious subject, intellectual life in today's New Zealand. It is organised around the interviews with leading intellectuals such as Jane Kelsey, Brian Easton, Marilyn Waring, Nicky Hager, Sandra Coney, Ranginui Walker, Ian Wedde, Lloyd Geering and the late Michael King, and is introduced by reflective essays by Roger Horrocks, Andrew Sharpe, Stephen Turner and editor Laurence Simmons. What is very clear is that however much ideas and thinking are the subject of public scorn, these people have a huge impact on the sort of country we live in and the way we treat each other. In their commitment to understanding and improving the social world they have faced hostility, incomprehension and rejection but their lives are rich, complex and dramatic as this book shows. It will annoy, excite, inspire and anger but it will also open up debate and invigorate discussion; it offers a vivid picture of how important our intellectuals are and how much we owe them.