Danny Keenan is of Ngati Te Whiti Ahi Ka, Te Atiawa descent and has a PhD in history from Massey University, which was conferred in 1994. His thesis examined aspects of the Native Land Court operations in Taranaki, in the early 1860s, especially focusing upon its terrible impacts upon Taranaki Maori in the wake of the land confiscations.
Danny was born in New Plymouth and educated at Pungarehu Primary, New Plymouth Boys' High School and Massey University. He has a public service background, mainly the Department of Maori affairs from 1981 to 1989. When the Department was closed down in 1989, he returned to University, completing his doctorate and commenced lecturing in New Zealand history at Massey University from 1994 to 2005.
In 2009, Danny was awarded a Fulbright Senior Scholarship to teach at Georgetown University, Washington DC, and to conduct research on the Bureau of Indian Affairs at National Archives in Washington. Danny taught a paper entitled Last Outpost of Empire? Nationhood, Maori and Memory in New Zealand 1800-1921 to 35 American students. Danny has written up this paper into a book entitled - Coming of Age? Maori, National Sentiment and the Origins of Anzac Day 1800-1921, a manuscript for which he is now seeking a publisher.
Danny currently lives in Whanganui, and is a full time writer. He has written two books; Terror in our Midst? Searching for Terror in Aotearoa New Zealand - editor (Huia, 2008) and Wars Without End. The Land Wars in Nineteenth Century New Zealand (Penguin, Revised Edition, 2009).