Summary Of The Golden Spruce

In every culture there is a true story of myth, madness, and greed. In Canada, The Golden Spruce by John Vaillant recounts this story. In 1997, a unique sitka spruce is laid to waste by a logger by the name of Grant Hadwin. The senseless killing of this sacred tree horrifies the Haida people and shocks local loggers. Shortly after, Hadwin disappears. Vaillant investigates this mystery and reveals what would motivate a man to destroy a scientific marvel.

This book is unique in the way that it is written as a documentary on paper. A documentary is simply the genre of capturing reality in a manner that tells a story or particular message. For this particular nonfiction, the author weaves together the mystery of Grant Hadwin and the golden spruce.

The book starts out by describing the landscape of the northwest coast and the weather that allows towering trees to grow in vast forests. The author continues to describe how a tree as odd and rare as the golden spruce managed to become a grand sixteen stories high. Vaillant depicts the factors that lead to the start of logging. Originally, The first outside people to land on the islands of British Columbia are the Europeans who are amazed by the towering trees they see. These Europeans soon engage in primitive trading with the Haida people. Over time, as word trickles back to the mainland, a gold rush of logging in BC begins. Vaillant narrates new advancements in technology that allow greedy corporations to fell a larger number of trees in less time. Soon after, Grant Hadwin is introduced to the reader. He is described as a natural athlete, a man “built for speed and distance, like a cross-country runner...” (Vaillant 46). Hadwin loves his career and is ideally suited for the tough demands of logging, but most importantly, he is horrified by the greed of industry. It is through the story of Grant Hadwin that Vaillant raises issues about the devastating impact of clear cutting. Vaillant highlights a quotation said by a young Hadwin in relation to over logging, “Nothing’s going to grow there again” (Vaillant 41). Later, as an older man, Hadwin commits a

For example, the story lacks flow because of the constant transitioning between past and present. Furthermore, the historical sections sometimes seem to linger on endlessly, becoming borderline boring at times. As well, the reader often craves more of a focus on Hadwin or the golden spruce as that is what one expects after reading the back cover. Admittedly, this nonfiction does include many beautiful quotations. For instance, the manner in which Vaillant describes the coastal forests is almost magical: “...once inside [the forest], there is no future and no past, only the sodden, twilit now” (Vaillant 8). This quotation accurately describes the experience of stepping into one of the grand forests along the northwest coast. On the whole, while there are aspects to like, the book lacks substance in the most important