James Christopher Belich, ONZM , is a New Zealand revisionist historian, known for his work on the New Zealand Wars. Of Croat descent, he was born in Wellington in 1956, the son of Sir James Belich, who later became Mayor of Wellington. He attended Onslow College. He gained an M.A. in history at Victoria University before being awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 1978 and travelling to Oxford to complete his D.Phil at Nuffield College. He lectured at Victoria University of Wellington for several years before moving to the University of Auckland. In 2007 he was appointed Professor of History at... the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies at Victoria University. The New Zealand Wars was based on his DPhil thesis, and won the international Trevor Reese Memorial Prize. It was later turned into a major documentary series for Television New Zealand. 'I Shall Not Die': Titokowaru's War , based on his MA thesis, was also highly praised, winning the Adam Award for New Zealand literature. Belich has written a two volume work A History of the New Zealanders, consisting of Making Peoples and Paradise Reforged .
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