Nga Iwi o Tainui is a classic work of New Zealand and Maori history, first published in 1995. A bilingual collection, in 67 chapters, of the histories, genealogies, songs and chants of the Tainui people, it represents the culmination of a life's work by the scholar and historian Dr Pei Te Hurinui Jones. His beautiful Maori text is matched on facing pages by Dr Bruce Biggs's English translations, a layout which facilitates a close study of the Maori language, valuable for scholars and students alike. Genealogical tables and map references place each separate incident in its social and geographical context. Extensive footnotes provide further information and there is a complete index to all place names and personal names in the text. Nga Iwi o Tainui received an Honour Award at the 1996 Montana New Zealand Book Awards.

This book details the background to the Kingitanga and also tells the story of the first king, Potatau Te Wherowhero. It details all the momentous events of Te Wherowhero's life from around 1775 to his death in 1860, including his status as Lord of the Waikato and the famous battles and conflicts with other tribes, his raising up as the First Maori King, and Mana Motuhake, the Maori Kingship, set apart as the symbol of the spiritual and cultural life of the Maori. Pei Te Hurinui's biography of King Potatau tells this story in a Maori voice employing waiata, poetry and whakapapa as well as prose text in English and English translations so that the book is accessible to both Maori language speakers and those with no knowledge of Maori.