1949: The Twilight Before the Dawn

by Jack Fitzgerald

1949 is an historic, non-fictional account of the role one man played in breaking the shackles that kept Britain's oldest colony in a state of permanent poverty and who led its people to a knock-down, drag 'em out battle into Confederation and the 20th century---Joseph R. Smallwood.

250 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2012

About the author

Jack Fitzgerald was born and educated in St. John's, Newfoundland. During his career he has been a journalist, a feature writer and political columnist with the St. John's Daily News; a reporter and public affairs writer with CJON and VOCM News Services; editor of the Newfoundland Herald and the Newfoundland Chronicle. During the last years of the Smallwood administration he was assistant director of Public Relations with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. He has also worked as Assistance Officer with the Department of Social Services. Jack Fitzgerald also hosted a regular radio program featuring off-beat Newfoundland stories on radio station VOFM.

As well as writing about unusual happenings relating to Newfoundland and Newfoundlanders, Fitzgerald has also authored a series of Newfoundland crime and punishment stories as well as Newfoundland historical publications.

Reviews

[Ronald Kelland · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am grudgingly giving this book two stars. I had pretty low expectations going in, and my suspicions were pretty much true. Fitzgerald has made a career of writing about Newfoundland pop culture and folklore, but he is not known as a writer of rigorous history. Even if presented to a popular, non-scholarly audience, it is reasonable to expect a certain level of quality research, writing and balance in a history book. I feel that these things are lacking in this volume. Fitzgerald is offering his take on the process under which Newfoundland joined Confederation. Fitzgerald is firmly on the pro-Confederation side of the matter and providing a response to the people who believe that Newfoundland was the victim of a vast North Atlantic conspiracy to force it into Canada. That is laudable and I applaud him for taking on the task. However, other than information from some private conversations the author had with Joey Smallwood there is nothing new revealed in the book, just a resumption of the evidence and conclusions test have already been made in other publications. That said, I had two major issues with the volume, first is that while it is written in very accessible language, the book was in need of serious editing. It is very disorganized, flitting between time periods and events with little explanations or segues, which causes periods of confusion for the reader. There is also a lot of unnecessary repitition, with some facts and anecdotes being repeated three or four times throughout the book. My other issue is the book's lack of balance. While I agree with the author that Confederation would likely not have happened without the organization and drive of Joey Smallwood, he was not the do-no-wrong superman that Fitzgerald makes him out to be. The book is very much a work of hagiography venerating Smallwood. A more nuanced look at Smallwood as a man and politician should have been provided. I'll happily add this book to my collection of Newfoundlandia, but there are better researched, written and nuanced books and articles on the subject available.

[Shirley Moores · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this historic non fictional account of Newfoundland before and after confederation with Canada. It gave me a better understanding of how my parents grew up and there struggles to live during these times.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intersting, but prose is disjointed, often repetitive. Worth the read for the history of a remarkable man and nation-changing event, but not for the writing.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very eye opening!