Editorial: This literary icon will be sadly missed

Death by accident is always infuriatingly cruel and indiscriminate. Rarely, however, is it as untimely as the car crash that claimed author and historian Michael King and his wife. The loss is cause for sorrow and melancholy, both at a national and personal level. New Zealand has lost a voice that bridged the races, a fountainhead of reason and moderation, at the precise time when relations between Maori and Pakeha demand it be heard the loudest. We have also lost a literary icon just as he was starting to receive the accolades his work so long deserved.

Michael King's great gift to New Zealanders was the way he brought history to life. His scope and output were prodigious. Early works, including biographies of Te Puea Herangi and Whina Cooper, were among the first to recognise the importance of Maori history. If Maori resented their story being told by a Pakeha, the richness of his work soon won them over. Later, he dwelt upon wider New Zealand history: Being Pakeha examined the Pakeha ingredients of our society and culture. The concept of a tribe of white New Zealanders with their own distinctive characteristics was born.

Most recently, he produced The Penguin History of New Zealand, a book which confirmed that a high level of scholarship and accessibility to John and Janet Citizen need not be inimical. New Zealanders, thirsty to learn their country's story but too often denied it in school curriculums, rushed to buy the book. Released last October, it is already into its seventh edition.

Throughout his writing, Michael King was never an apologist for one race or one point of view. Clarity of thought, good sense and enlightenment were his hallmarks. But he was well aware that the self-knowledge cultivated by his writing could strongly benefit race relations. Writing in the Herald in 2001, he said: "I believe above all that a strong and confident Pakeha culture - one that knows its own history and feels positive about allegiance to its own origins - is more likely to sustain an equitable relationship with Maori."

His scholarship did not end with Maori and Pakeha history. Among the elements of Pakeha culture with which he strongly identified was the literature of this country. It had not, he believed, been accorded due regard. Much of his more recent writing elevated literary figures - Janet Frame and Frank Sargeson, in particular - to a status once denied them by a more hum-drum, sports-oriented culture.

Dr King was wont to lament that the life of a professional writer was a hand-to-mouth experience. Royalties from the success of The Penguin History of New Zealand belatedly changed all that. Better still, his work was finally gaining richly deserved accolades. Last year, he was one of the recipients of the Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement. He was also the Herald's New Zealander of the Year. Best of all, he appeared to be winning a battle to overcome throat cancer.

Now, at just 58, the country is deprived of its premier popular historian. Dr King leaves a powerful legacy. Both Maori and Pakeha have a better understanding of themselves, and a stronger sense of their identity, thanks to his work. In a time of turbulence, respect for him knows no racial boundaries.

Whatever the degree of that tumult, Dr King declined to be discouraged. The final paragraph of The Penguin History of New Zealand reads: "Most New Zealanders, whatever their cultural backgrounds, are good-hearted, practical, commonsensical and tolerant ... they are as sound a basis as any for optimism about the country's future." Michael King fully embodied those characteristics. And as more New Zealanders read his inspirational works, there is more reason to share his optimism to the full.