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

The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed
John Vaillant (Author)
(70)

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Forestry

A tale of obsession so fierce that a man kills the thing he loves most: the only giant golden spruce on earth.

As vividly as Jon Krakauer put readers on Everest, John Vaillant takes us into the heart of North America's last great forest, where trees grow to eighteen feet in diameter, sunlight never touches the ground, and the chainsaws are always at work.

When a shattered kayak and camping gear are found on an uninhabited island, they reignite a mystery surrounding a shocking act of protest. Five months earlier, logger-turned-activist Grant Hadwin had 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.

The tree, a fascinating puzzle to scientists, was sacred to the Haida, a fierce seafaring tribe based in the Queen Charlottes. Vaillant recounts the bloody history of the Haida and the early fur trade, and provides harrowing details of the logging industry, whose omnivorous violence would claim both Hadwin and the golden spruce.

• Rank: #28195 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 8.31" h x .79" w x 7.24" l, .79 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Description #1 by CDS Books and DVDS:

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. Vaillant profiles the culprit, an ex-logger turned messianic environmentalist who toppled the famous tree. *Author: Vaillant, John *Binding Type: Paperback *Number of Pages: 288 *Publication Date: 2006/05/17 *Language: English *Dimensions: 8.18 x 5.52 x 0.78 inches

Description #2 by eBay - barnesandnobleinc:

author john vaillant format paperback format trade paper isbn 10 0393328643 isbn 13 9780393328646 language english publication year 20060000 audience trade author john vaillant author for title john vaillant book industry reviews absolutely spellbinding 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 in a narrative worthy of comparison to jon krakauer s int

Description #3 by nooeo.info:

"A tale of obsession so fierce that a man kills the thing he loves most: the only giant golden spruce on earth.As vividly as Jon Krakauer put readers on Everest, John Vaillant takes us into the heart of North America's last great forest, where trees grow to eighteen feet in diameter, sunlight never touches the ground, and the chainsaws are always at work.When a shattered kayak and camping gear are found on an uninhabited island, they reignite a mystery surrounding a shocking act of protest. Five months earlier, logger-turned-activist Grant Hadwin had 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.The tree, a fascinating puzzle to scientists, was sacred to the Haida, a fierce seafaring tribe based in the Queen Charlottes. Vaillant recounts the bloody history of the Haida and the early fur trade, and provides harrowing details of the logging industry, whose omnivorous violence would claim both Hadwin and the golden spruce.File Size: 718 KBPrint Length: 273 pagesPage Numbers Source ISBN: 0393328643 Publisher: WW Norton & Company; 1 edition (May 17, 2006)Language: EnglishASIN: B001TMCFNI"