Knowledge of the geographic variation of tree diversity has been and will continue to be a prerequisite to assess any long-term impacts of past, present and future human footprints on nature. The author examines the question of tree diversity at the conceptual level in the first two chapters. Data about climate, soils, trees, and land use history, are discussed in detail in chapter three to eight. The final chapter outlines a path to sustainable forestry for small landowners. With a geographic focus on the forest in the cool-humid climate of eastern Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, this book is a comprehensive and detailed contribution to special plant geography. But the book is more than that: It serves as a template for much needed assessments of tree diversity in forest regions with a history of human-induced disturbances and transformations of nature such as agricultural settlement, acid rain, climate change, industrial wood exploitation, and the introduction of pathogens such as beech bark disease. In the words of the author, a critically important focus of contemporary forest science is to actualize our knowledge of tree life and the functionality of tree diversity in the context of human agency. The book is easy to read and concisely written from a scientific perspective for general audiences interested in forests, trees, and environmental education. The text is also well suited to engage college and university students in the experimental discovery of functional tree diversity.