A Gentle Radical

The Life of Jeanette Fitzsimons

By: Gareth Hughes

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Paperback | 31 May 2022

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384 Pages

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3 x 15.3 x 23.2

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Major biography of Jeanette Fitzsimons, hugely influential leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Jeanette Fitzsimons was a visionary, a pioneer and a radical. This is the story of someone who battled the patriarchy, the old boys' club in Parliament and had the courage to challenge political sacred cows.

She was the co-leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand from 1995 to 2009, and Member of Parliament from 1996 to 2010.

Highly regarded by all, she was the first (and until recently, the only) Green MP to win an electorate seat. She died very suddenly and unexpectedly in 2020.

Fitzsimons is a unique figure in our political history yet someone whose personal story is still unknown.

How did a girl from a conservative rural family get to the front lines of radical political thought and then into the front benches of Parliament?
How did she become the first Green MP in the world to win an electorate seat?
How did she survive the brutal world of politics and get through the death of her co-leader Rod Donald?
Why did she decline ministerial power in 1999 and later why did she declare war on Labour over genetic engineering?
What can we learn from her politics and what did she think of the Green Party that followed her?

Fitzsimons lived a fascinating life, filled with moments of high political drama, and her example of how to navigate politics, adversity and triumph is more important than ever.

About the Author

Gareth Hughes was a Green Party MP for 10 years, and before that was a campaigner at Greenpeace.

Industry Reviews

'Hughes has done an excellent job. A Gentle Radical is fascinating, inspiring.' Sunday Star-Times

'Dollops of parliamentary dysfunction, an epic love story and a supporting cast of quirky and dastardly characters.' The Spinoff

'An articulate tribute to a woman of unquestionable mana.' ?NZ Listener

'Provides a neat history of the first urgent alarms of the energy crisis and the progress made to do something about it during Fitzsimons' career. It's a thrill to read the way that being made intellectually aware gave [Fitzsimons] the purpose of mind to see the future and try to change it.' Newsroom

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