White Pine: American History and the Tree That Made a Nation

by Andrew Vietze

The history of the ubiquitous pine tree is wrapped up with the history of early America—and in the hands of a gifted storyteller becomes a compelling read, almost an adventure story.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Wilderness, Nature

199 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 15, 2017

About the author

Andrew Vietze is the bestselling author of more than twenty books, including the critically acclaimed This Wild Land (2021), White Pine (2017), Boon Island (Globe Pequot, 2012), and Becoming Teddy Roosevelt (Down East, 2010). Publishers Weekly called Boon Island “a maritime whodunit rife with twists and turns and high drama;” The Portsmouth Herald dubbed it “superb. . . both a well-researched history and a page-turning mystery that begs to be a motion picture.” Co-written with historian Stephen Erickson, it was an Amazon #1 bestseller (US history), won a gold medal at the Independent Publisher Book Awards, was an IndieFab Book of the Year Finalist, and was featured on the hit Travel Channel program “Monumental Mysteries” in June of 2014. Becoming Teddy Roosevelt also won an IPPY, was a Book of the Year Finalist, and was the inspiration for Coastal Maine Botanical Garden's new program for middle schoolers, the Lunder New Naturalists, which is now part of the curriculum at 20 Maine schools. The book was formally honored by decree of the Maine State Legislature in 2010, hailed as “so symbolic of the spirit and unique character of Maine.”

Vietze got his start at the Maine Times in the early 90s, and, in addition to his books, he's written for a wide array of clients, including: NASA, New York Times' LifeWire, Weather.com's “Forecast Earth”, Crawdaddy, Time Out New York, Explore, Big Sky Journal, AMC Outdoors, Popmatters, and American Songwriter. A Registered Maine Guide, he splits his time between his off-grid home in the forest of Waldo County and a cabin in the woods of Baxter State Park, where he works as a seasonal ranger. Find out more at www.andrewvietze.com.

Reviews

[Marge]

I never knew about the White Pine and its importance in US history. This book is good on information but I wish it had been written as Salt or Cod had been. Those two books held my interest more than this one however, I have to say, that as it proceeded it did get more interesting.

Native American history was interwoven especially with Five Tribes. Also the author does diligent research and calls upon folks who have studied the topics he addresses and this is good. It was amazing to see the importance of the white pine to the British and later the Americans and the French. The British Navy wanted those pines for their masts and we all know that the Br. Navy powered the seas but little did I know that the masts were from our white pines.

Chapter 6 was very good on the mast trade. We begin to see more of Portsmouth and into Maine as we follow the quest for the white pine. With the revolution comes the firebombing of Falmouth ME and the colonists began shipping the masts to France not England as the revolution spurred on.

One keynote chapter to me was the one on the Aroostook WAr and from then on the development of the lumber industry in Maine. We learned about the boundary treaty: Webster- Ashburton but I never knew the details or the role the white pine played in that international treaty. From chapter 10 on we get to meet characters and important figures in the development of the Maine Lumber economy such as Shafer and Hancock and follow their moves to create fantastic industry in Maine.

Collecting and selling the pine in the bottom of the lakes was an amazing read in the book and what ingenuity! The damage of the yellow parasite and yet the perseverance and determination to continue growing and working with the white pine was such a lesson especially as we, today, tend to whine or give up so soon. Not with white pine. "Despite threats from foreign monarchs, rapacious timber cutters, epic wildfires and parasitic fungi, pine is still king." (p163)

So read it, skim it at times but don't ignore it. It is a good to learn about. I think the writing needed more work but from Aroostook War onward, it held my attention.

[Stella Lafayette · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book #sucks if you paid me $100 I still wouldn’t open it. Finding information to fill out my Apush chart was treacherous and I wouldn’t wish it upon even my worst enemy.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great history of colonial New England and the white pine...Also a great and surprising last few chapters with current stories of pine (lumber industry, pine salvage, invasive pests, etc) in which I enjoyed the human stories.
A lot about the revolutionary war area and disagreements between "royal" surveyors and colonists (foresters, mill owners, etc). Fascinating for me as a Mainer though it has so many local references I think you have to be a New Englander (and probably ME, NH or MA) to truly enjoy.

[Lisa S.]

Just started, but I LOVE white pines and so love the introduction's descriptions of the King's pines--200 feet tall back in the 1700s. We lived beneath white pines that were 90 feet tall--I can barely imagine them being twice as high. One year a bough fell onto our roof after an ice storm--punched through the roof into the attic but not through our ceiling, thankfully. The bough was the size of a small tree. It's marvelous reading about this noble tree.

[Kessiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be fair, I did find this book informative and interesting. But I really struggle with nonfiction as it doesn’t hold my attention as well as novels do, so I didn’t get a chance to finish this before returning it; I only got halfway through. Still, I found the information surrounding the white pine and it’s economic, cultural and religious history even predating European colonialism to be very interesting. Two stars just for the slogging readability

[Benjamin Padilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked how the book started, with the relationship of white pine to European settlements in the Americas. The second half of the book took unexpected jumps through history. Overall, it was a generally interesting, though cursory overview. I'd rather it had been a whole book about the role of pine in the lead up to American revolution.
ps - I feel this deserves 2.5 stars, but GoodReads doesnt allow that...

[Alex Myers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very interesting. The first half is a history of colonial america, mostly focusing on pines, but without any sense of narrative structure or cadence. The second half is bizarre. A chapter on Hancock lumber that reads like marketing copy, for instance. Didn't get a real sense of the purpose of the book or the author's expertise.

[Dave · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not at all like Cod, or Salt, or Tobacco, or Potato and not nearly as good. These books give a natural and human history of an item. This book gives a rehash of American history with the white pine playing an unimportant bit part.

[Ken Gross · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid book that outlines the impact of one tree on American history. Although a good book in general, I would have like to have known more about how this tree affected the manufacturing of paper—a topic hinted at but not described in a later chapter, and the ending sort of fizzles out without a clear denouement. Vietze's other book, Boon Island, is by far his best work, and White Pine doesn't quite rise to the same level as that book.

[Caroline Fallona]

I actually could not tell you one thing I learned from this book. If you like trees, history, and Maine, this book might be for you. If you do not like any of those things, run far away from this book because it is literally just another form of a textbook.

[Ruby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very readable account of the effect of the White Pine on American history. Written by a former editor of DownEast magazine.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting perspective of the American side of colonial forestry.

[Dollie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, written by the former managing editor of Down East magazine, Andrew Vietze. I love everything Maine (well, except for winter) and if there’s one thing Maine has plenty of, it’s the pine tree. We are the Pine Tree State, after all. Surrounding my back yard are some pretty massive pines. They’re like sentinels and I love them. This book told me all about them and I learned so much. Even being the history geek I am, I learned so much from this book about the Revolutionary War that I never knew before. I knew that logs used to be rolled into the rivers and then floated downstream to the ocean and ships would load them up, but I never knew that those logs were huge white pine trees used to make masts for British ships and that the colonists’ choice to keep the wood for themselves was one of the reasons for the war. Britain wanted those long perfect logs as the masts for their naval ships. Besides learning that, I see ads for Hancock Lumber all the time and it was awesome to read about this Maine company. I was also very interested in the company that is now hauling 200 year old logs out of ponds and lakes in northern Maine and producing great floors and wall panels out of them. I really enjoyed every single page of this book. I should probably also mention that both my grandfather and one of my uncles were forest rangers, so I grew up loving and appreciating the woods and everything about them. I still do. I love being surrounded by the woods.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A book made up of longish essays on the white pine in American history (mostly northern New England history), arranged in roughly chronological order from about 1600 to the 2000s. The main point of that history is that the American Revolution was preceded and probably brought about in large part by colonists' deep resentment of Britain's insistence on ownership of all pines in the colonies over 24" diameter for building the masts of their naval ships, as well as by anger for England's burning of Portland, ME in 1775 in retaliation for one of several conflicts between colonists and surveyor generals in Maine and NH during the 1700s. There's also some discussion of native tribes' use of white pines ceremonially, medicinally, and to make canoes and such, as well as a chapter on the history and management of Hancock Lumber in Maine and about another firm that reclaims sunken masts from Maine waterways for use as timber and other items with patina and history in taverns, businesses, etc. The stories, detailed and succinctly written, engaged my imagination, though the organization of the book felt a bit haphazard.