A sobering read....

I've just finished reading "The Golden Spruce"  by John Vaillant.  It's a story of the Pacific northwest forests, Haida Gwai - the Queen Charlotte Islands - the native people and the logging industry.  The first chapter is a description of the mysterious, mist shrouded forests of the BC and Alaska coastlines.  We saw these first hand on our cruise in September 2009, how beautiful they are.  Vaillancourt's book speaks of the devastation the logging industry has caused to this region and across North America, though he's not unsympathetic to the loggers.  He speaks about the impact of the industry and the results of contact with Europeans on the Haida people of the Queen Charlottes, and he writes well.  This book is a national bestseller and has won the Governer General's Award for non fiction.  It's not an easy read, I was tempted to give up half way through but I'm glad I persevered.