Greenpeace: How a Group of Ecologists, Journalists and Visionaries Changed the World

Joseph Jones is librarian emeritus at the University of British Columbia
Library. He is the author of Reference Sources for Canadian Literary
Studies.

This large book offers a chronicle of the first 10 years of Greenpeace.
The story stretches from an October 1969 Amchitka protest in Vancouver
to a November 1979 reconstitution of the international organization in
Amsterdam. Three sections divide the volume into periods by primary
concern: nuclear testing, whales and seals, and the working out of
organizational politics.

Author Rex Weyler moved to Vancouver in June 1972 as a late American
fugitive from Vietnam War conscription. Occasional contacts with the
Greenpeace collective eventually led to deeper involvement. The
“underground days” ended with the establishment of a public office
in January 1975. That summer Weyler helped to crew a ship that
confronted Russian whaling in the Pacific. An appended cast of
characters describes him as a Greenpeace board member 1974–79.

Given Weyler’s situation, the first half of the period covered in the
book amounts to historical reconstruction, while the second half starts
from the direct experience that would inform memoir. The seam between
the two is neat, at some cost to the personal element. Extensive
research and consultation have produced a work that feels corporate. The
appendix mentions six drafts. Good writing usually sustains the
readability despite dense content. Paragraphs that enumerate a dozen or
more personal names are not uncommon. Sometimes comprehensiveness and
due credit smother the story. An index of under eight pages leaves much
content inaccessible.

This book will occupy a primary position in the history of the
Greenpeace organization, and also prove frustrating as an authority.
Journalistic drama relies on reconstructed dialogue that is
“truncated, not verbatim.” The documentation makes it difficult to
attribute details, even though 30 pages refer to various notebooks,
journals, logs, contemporary publications, and interviews. “The text
eschews footnotes, in deference to the narrative.”

The book shows devotion to the subject and represents a huge amount of
work. In it the activist will find many lessons and much inspiration.
One strong thread brings out the partnership of mystics and mechanics,
those who dreamed up actions and carried them out with daring, and those
who kept the boats running

and managed the finances and mailing lists.