The Danger Tree: Memory, War, and the Search for a Family's Past

Melvin Baker is an archivist and historian at Memorial University of
Newfoundland, and the co-editor of Dictionary of Newfoundland and
Labrador Biography.

The critical praise The Danger Tree received when it was first published
in 1991 was fully justified. David Macfarlane’s superbly written
family history provides an intimate look at his mother’s family roots
in Newfoundland.

The Goodyear family of Grand Falls lost three sons to the First World
War. With great sensitivity and insight, Macfarlane relates how
surviving members of the family (in Newfoundland and Ontario) dealt with
the loss, and how his own quest to understand who the dead sons were led
to self-discovery and discovery of Newfoundland itself.

Interwoven with the family history are significant themes and events in
Newfoundland history: early settlement and fishery; pulp and paper
industrial development at Grand Falls; confederation in 1949 and
postconfederation political patronage; the 1959 loggers’ strike. The
Danger Tree is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding
Newfoundland’s historical past.