‘Eye Surgery and Surgeons in New Zealand’ is an account of those who have practised ophthalmology in New Zealand from colonial times to recent times. Some early surgeons were  colourful itinerants, who operated in hotel rooms and patients’ homes, and advertised like snake-oil salesmen. Others, such as Sir Lindo Ferguson in the early 1900s, were at the top of the  specialty, and were huge contributors to medical education in New Zealand and Australia. All those who practised ophthalmology in the past are mentioned, together with the contributions  that were made by many. As well as biographies of many characters, the book details the organization of ophthalmology in New Zealand, the remarkable ascent of academic ophthalmology  since the late 1990s driven largely by the academic department in Auckland, the evolving relationship with Australian ophthalmology culminating in a joint College, and also some  controversies fuelled by the news media, which have not always been kind to the specialty.