Mr Stewart does the grand tour

Concluded by remarks that read like a valedictory, New Zealand: Portait of a Nation seems to be publisher and socialite Graham Stewart's final grand slam. The book, while not quite the magnum opus that his End of the Penny Section on the country's city tramways was, is an impressive hardback volume nonetheless. It presents approximately 300 historic monochrome photos taken around New Zealand juxtaposed with equivalent colour scenes today in a roughly 2 to 3 ratio.
He comments that "this is not book of pretty sunsets and sunrises"; in fact few of the contemporary scenes, mostly taken by him, would qualify as postcards: often taken against the light or in dull conditions, they are mostly the snapshots of the passing tourist à la Google Streetview. A book like this can't be produced in a hurry and Mr Stewart must have added a few thousand km to his car's odometer plus an equal amount of time spent on research.
This very subjective but comprehensive picture of New Zealand yesterday and today is available for $60 from the transpress shop.