The Story of Alternative
Spirituality in New Zealand
by Robert Ellwood
University of Hawaii Press, 1993

egardless of its small population and isolated location, the beautiful island-nation of New Zealand has been host to a number of important spiritual movements. In this book, I endeavor to trace the story of alternative spirituality in New Zealand among the "Pakeha" (European) population since settlement in the nineteenth century. The most important of these movements have been Spiritualism and the Spiritualist churches, Theosophy and the Theosophical Society, and the New Zealand outpost of the colorful Order of the Golden Dawn. Islands of the Dawn describes them, as well as movements other New Zealand spiritual activities from utopian communes to Zen centers to UFO groups. If you have any interest in alternative spirituality, or in the remarkable culture emerging in New Zealand, I hope you will read this book, and be sure to let me know what you think of it.