NEW ZEALAND BOOKS
The Political Years
Marilyn Waring (Bridget Williams Books, $40)
It’s astonishing to realise on finishing this book that Marilyn Waring had been in Parliament for nine years when she retired at the age of 32. And that she developed and maintained a powerful influence on national politics in that time – and afterwards – despite never getting within cooee of a Cabinet position.
Her example of integrity and consistency has seldom been equalled – or, perhaps, even attempted – but, as becomes clear on these pages, it came at an enormous personal cost. Parliament was not the natural environment for a prodigiously intelligent feminist. Tellingly, she says in her preface, the writing of this book arose after
