Downfall - The Destruction of Charles Mackay

"In 1920 New Zealanders were shocked by the news that the brilliant, well-connected mayor of Whanganui had shot a young gay poet, D'Arcy Cresswell, who was blackmailing him. They were then riveted by the trial that followed. Mackay was sentenced to hard labour and later left the country, only to be shot by a police sniper during street unrest in Berlin during the rise of the Nazis. Mackay had married into Whanganui high society, and the story has long been the town's dark secret. The outcome of years of digging by historian Paul Diamond, 'Downfall: The destruction of Charles Mackay' shines a clear light on the vengeful impulses behind the blackmail and Mackay's ruination"--Back cover.

About the author

Paul Diamond (Ngati Haua, Te Rarawa, Ngapuhi) is Curator, Maori at the Alexander Turnbull Library. He is the author of A Fire in Your Belly: Maori leaders speak (Huia, 2003), Makereti: Taking Maori to the world (Random House, 2007), and Savaged to Suit: Maori and cartooning in New Zealand (Fraser Books, 2018). He has previously worked as an oral historian and broadcaster, and in 2017 he was awarded Creative New Zealand's Berlin Writer's Residency.

Product details

• Authors: Paul Diamond
• Publisher: Massey University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.03.2023
• EAN: 9781991016188
• ISBN: 978-1-991016-18-8
• No. of pages: 328
• Dimensions: 207 mm x 155 mm x 24 mm
• Weight: 564 g
• Illustrations: 50 Illustrations, color
• Series: Downfall:The Destruction of Charles Mackay
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Non-fiction book > History > Biographies, autobiographies