{"product_id":"2026100010719-secondhand-very-strange-tales-the-turbulent-times-of-samuel-marsden","title":"Very Strange Tales: The Turbulent Times Of Samuel Marsden","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: Wear and tear with damage\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good\u003cbr\u003eMarkings: Previous owner\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFew figures in the colonial history of Australia and New Zealand provoke as much fascination — and controversy — as Samuel Marsden, the firebrand clergyman whose life spanned the brutal frontier of the early British settlements. Very Strange Tales: The Turbulent Times of Samuel Marsden chronicles the remarkable and often scandalous story of a man who served simultaneously as a man of God and a magistrate of feared severity, earning the notorious sobriquet the flogging parson for his harsh judicial rulings while paradoxically becoming a pioneering missionary to the Māori people of New Zealand. Bill Wannan presents this compelling portrait against a vivid backdrop of convict-era Sydney, frontier lawlessness, and the clashing worlds of colonial ambition and indigenous tradition.\n\nWannan, celebrated for his deep knowledge of Australian folklore and colonial history, writes with a keen eye for the absurd contradictions that defined the age — a tone that is at once wry and richly authoritative. The narrative uncovers the profound tensions of a society struggling to define itself at the edge of the known world, where piety and punishment walked hand in hand. A masterful blend of biography and social history, this work illustrates why Marsden remains one of the most paradoxical and compelling characters of the Pacific colonial era — leaving the reader to wonder where righteousness ends and tyranny begins.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50609710825691,"sku":"2026100010719-SECONDHAND","price":25.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/34fe40c6-b433-499c-84b5-390bf706d353.png?v=1791764726","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026100010719-secondhand-very-strange-tales-the-turbulent-times-of-samuel-marsden","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}