Farley Mowat is the latest in a rather long list of foreign and mainland authors of distinction who have come to Newfoundland, settled for a time, and written books about their experiences here. I think it is fair to say that all of them have created distorted images of life in the province in their books, but some have nevertheless illuminated in a striking and original way the particular aspects of Newfoundland which interested them…. The outsiders who have given significant responses to Newfoundland have been those with no axes to grind, who came, suppressed their own egos and theories, and simply observed and shared experiences….

There is no such sense conveyed in Farley Mowat's Wake of the Great Sealers…. Mowat's [book] is ultimately about Mowat himself. This statement can be made about all of Mowat's books on Newfoundland and perhaps about everything he has written. Every book...