Barkskins

Annie Proulx traces three centuries of ecological change through the lineages of René Sel and Charles Duquet, two French indentured servants arriving in New France in 1693. While the Sels integrate with the Mi’kmaw people and face systemic displacement, the Duquets establish a global timber empire. This family saga documents the systematic clearing of North American forests, the rise of industrial logging technologies, and the eventual realization of man-made climate shifts as primeval woods vanish across continents.

Ecologists and historians read this work to observe the mechanical process of deforestation and the shifting human attitude toward natural resources. It appeals to those interested in the junction of botany and colonial economics. Readers walk away with a specific understanding of how corporate extraction replaced indigenous stewardship, leaving a legacy of environmental exhaustion. The narrative provides a blunt inventory of lost biodiversity and the logistical reality of how the modern landscape was physically stripped of its timber.