The Age of Enterprise: Rediscovering the New Zealand Entrepreneur 1880-1910

The Age of Enterprise is an important book, written for a broad audience, which covers an area little touched by traditional historians such as Keith Sinclair, Jamie Belich or Michael King. It shows how entrepreneurship and innovation transformed the New Zealand economy in the late 19th century and sets our experience in context with other similar developments in settler colonies such as Australia and Latin America. In particular, The Age of Enterprise draws on case studies and historical evidence to reveal that the small, organic, rapidly expanding firm was the potent force in New Zealand’s growth - the local, smalltime entrepreneur is the hero of this story. By focusing on the shape of our economic history Ian Hunter here fills a major gap in our knowledge of the colonial period which has so far derived largely from the work of social and political historians.