As Near To Heaven By Sea

Newfoundland and Labrador is like no other place part of North America. Discover the reasons why. For three centuries after Europeans rediscovered it, Newfoundland was thought of as little more than, "A great English ship moored near the banks during the fishing season." Labrador, dismissed as that "Land God gave to Cain," commended no more respect. But for the aboriginal peoples who fist settled there nine thousand years earlier, Newfoundland was of vastly greater significance. The people who propelled its history-Leif Eiriksson, James Cook, Black Bart, Joey Smallwood. Amelia Earhart, Shanawdithit, D'Iberville, Audubon and Marconi, to name but a handful of the better known-shared a sense of daring adventure and limitless imagination.

And its history spans millennia: Beginning with the ritual burial of a maritime archaic child through to the dawn of the twenty-first century, it encompasses viking landings, the exploits of Basque whalers, centuries of military and religious strife, confederation with Canada and countless events sandwiched in between. Kevin Major captures it all-the triumphs and the setbacks, the accomplishments and the defeats-in exciting, vivid prose.

"...enthusiastic and thorough." The Globe and Mail

"...the sort of history book a reader might want to take to bed for a good long read...a history of people, and it is their stories, rather than a litany of dates and battles..." Atlantic Books Today