The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed

Overview

"Absolutely spellbinding."--William Grimes, New York Times

"In a . . . narrative worthy of comparison to Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, Vaillant uses a tragic episode to tell a larger story of the heartbreakingly complex relationship between man and nature."--Editor's Choice, Entertainment Weekly

"John Vaillant has written a work that will change how many people think about nature."--Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm

When a shattered kayak and camping gear are found on an uninhabited island in the Pacific Northwest, they reignite a mystery surrounding a shocking act of protest. Five months earlier, logger-turned-environmentalist Grant Hadwin plunged naked into a river in British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Islands, towing a chainsaw. When his night's work was done, a unique Sitka spruce, 165 feet tall and covered with luminous golden needles, teetered on its stump. Two days later it fell.

As vividly as Jon Krakauer put readers on Everest, John Vaillant takes us into the heart of North America's last great tree forest.

Editorial Reviews

The felling of a celebrated giant golden spruce tree in British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Islands takes on a potent symbolism in this probing study of an unprecedented act of eco-vandalism. First-time author Vaillant, who originally wrote about the death of the spruce for the New Yorker, profiles the culprit, an ex-logger turned messianic environmentalist who toppled the famous tree--the only one of its kind--to protest the destruction of British Columbia's old-growth forest, then soon vanished mysteriously. Vaillant also explores the culture and history of the Haida Indians who revered the tree, and of the logging industry that often expresses an elegiac awe for the ancient trees it is busily clear-cutting. Writing in a vigorous, evocative style, Vaillant portrays the Pacific Northwest as a region of conflict and violence, from the battles between Europeans and Indians over the 18th-century sea otter trade to the hard-bitten, macho milieu of the logging camps, where grisly death is an occupational hazard. It is also, in his telling, a land of virtually infinite natural resources overmatched by an even greater human rapaciousness. Through this archetypal story of "people fail[ing] to see the forest for the tree," Vaillant paints a haunting portrait of man's vexed relationship with nature. Photos.
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Author Information

Bio of John Vaillant

John Vaillant has written for The New Yorker, the Atlantic, Outside, National Geographic Adventure, and Men's Journal, among others. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Golden Spruce is his first book

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Additional Info

Imprint

W. W. Norton & Company, Incorporated

Filesize

975.46 KB

Number of Pages

272

eBook ISBN

9780393075564

Awards

• Edna Staebler Award for Creative Nonfiction
• Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize
• Kiriyama Prize
• Libris Awards
• Pearson Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize
• Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize