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Loading... Rogues and Heroes (2005)by Paul Butler, Maura Hanrahan (Author)
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Newfoundland and Labrador is blessed with more fairies, devils, old hags, phantoms, Jacky Lanterns, sea monsters, and other fabulous and frightening creatures than any other spot in Canada. Author and researcher Dale Jarvis, creator of the award-winning St. John's Haunted Hike, has pulled together a compendium of strange tales about the even stranger spectres, sprites, and curious beasties that inhabit the province's shores. From Signal Hill's headless ghost to the Northern Peninsula's Isle of Demons to the fairy paths of the Southern Shore, Wonderful Strange is your guide to encounters with the unexplained. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)971.8History and Geography North America Canada Newfoundland and Labrador, Saint Pierre and MiquelonLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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This is a fascinating idea: A set of capsule biographies (the average is about six pages; given the type size and the number of sidebars and photos and such, I'd guess they were shooting for 1000-1200 words each) of Newfoundlanders who were either heroes or people you didn't want to be around. It's a nice, gentle way to be introduced to noteworthy historical characters.
Of course, the problem with such short bios is that they don't allow for much in-depth study. This makes it hard to convey nuance. But... the authors could have tried. And therein lies my real gripe.
I'm not a Newfoundlander. I know just enough to know how little I know about their culture -- which is not Canadian. (Most of the characters in the book weren't Canadian, either; they lived before Newfoundland joined Canada.) But I have studied several of the characters in this book -- notably Abram Kean the sealing captain and Robert A. Bartlett the sealing captain and arctic explorer -- in detail.
The portrait of Bartlett is the one that bothered me most. The story told here is so one-sided as to be utterly misleading. Bartlett was a brave and dedicated man with wide-ranging interests. He was also, flatly, dangerous -- incapable of caution, unable to imagine the consequences of his actions, immune to learning from his experience. Men died and ships were lost because he couldn't manage a coherent plan of action. And he let Robert Peary lead him around by the nose. Does Bartlett deserve praise? Sure. But he also should be used as a cautionary tale. Even in 1200 words, the authors could have presented a fuller picture, and they didn't.
Are the other bios as incomplete? I don't know, because I haven't studied the people involved. But when there are problems with the parts of a book that I can check, I tend to get cautious about the parts that I can't.... Clearly the authors have often decided that their characters are either Good Guy or Bad Guy. I could use a few more "Er... Well..." Guys. ( )