One of his major works on the 19th-century clash between Māori and Pākehā, the revisionist study The New Zealand Wars (1986), was also published in an American edition and adapted into a television series and DVD.

[4][5] Educated at Onslow College,[6] he went on to study at Victoria University of Wellington, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in history.

[citation needed] I Shall Not Die': Titokowaru's War (1990), based on his MA thesis, was also highly praised, winning the Adam Award for New Zealand literature.

[11] In the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours, Belich was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for service to historic research.

[14] Belich was the winner of the non-fiction category at the 2011 Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement[15] His book, The World the Plague Made, was shortlisted for the 2023 Wolfson History Prize.