Paul Butler (5) (1964–)

Decisiveness isn't all it's cracked up to be.

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.… (mais)