INTRODUCTION

This book represents an attempt to bring Newfoundland history into the sphere of most Newfoundlanders. While there are accounts available of various episodes in our history they are largely either narrow in scope or written for a specialized audience. This book, however, is primarily designed for the general reader, I hope that it satisfies the reader who has an interest in the fourteen personages contained within. Perhaps specialists, too, will be interested in my challenge of several assumptions.

The inspiration to research and write this book came from a need to satisfy my own historical curiosity. What resulted is a somewhat passionate but historically sound presentation of fourteen men who played prominent roles in the shaping of our rich history and culture.