John Vaillant tells a great story about the golden spruce of the Queen Charlotte Islands. In telling this story, we get a history of the Haida Indians and the logging industry. Very good. ( )

Read this book! A stunning tale and a interesting look at the deterioration of a human. Wrapped in a history lesson of the northwest pacific coast and the cost of one act on a native society. ( )

A varied and often fascinating account of logging and British Columbia. At times the language is a bit over-done, and at times it drags (a bit), but the opening chapters describing the Pacific Northwest coastal forests are the best description I've read of that unbelievable place. ( )

Although titles containing words like “myth,” “madness,” and “greed” are usually reserved for biographies of Mafiosos and crime lords, this particular biography is about a tree. Indeed, it is appropriate to call it biography, as Vaillant gives a complete history of the life of the Golden Spruce—a unique specimen of Sitka Spruce that sits at the center of one of the most riveting mysteries surrounding the constant tension of the forest.
Centered around the controversial behavior of logger/activist Grant Hadwin, Vaillant recounts how the Spruce served as an emblem for the native people, a tourist attraction, a reminder to the loggers, only to be chopped down in a single act that would forever change a community. As much as the book is about the tree, it is also about environmentalism, logging, politics, mythology, religion and sociology.
The author does not rely upon the usual rhetoric or status quo. No point of view is left unexplored and unlike a typical “crime” story, the reader is without the black and white identification of the “good guys” and the “bad guys.” Like the tree, Grant Hadwin rises out of the forest of “characters” to become a unique emblem of the dilemma that exists for those who would use the resources of the land. This is no idle hero worship, however. Hadwin’s ultimate choice haunts the Queen Charlotte Islands, as a community continues to mourn the loss of the Golden Spruce. ( )

This account of the destructive act of an ex-employee of several Canadian logging companies is entertwined with the history of the Haida people, diminishing resources, and loss. The history and defacto genocide of the native tribes is interwoven with the clash of demand for timber and jobs.One of the unique aspects of this tale, aside from the mystical golden spruce, is the discussion of shamanism and mystical experience, which I wish could have been more in depth.