image courtesy of Pacific Northwest Quarterly

From the desk of Sean Lanksbury. PNW & Special Collections Librarian

Did you know that for the last 50 years, the Washington State Library has compiled a quarterly bibliography of recent Pacific Northwest history publications, including notable journal articles, for the journal Pacific Northwest Quarterly?

The historian, author, and Washington Room librarian Hazel Emery Mills started the column as a service to researchers of Pacific Northwest history. The first edition of Northwest History News Notes appeared in Volume 58 (January 1967). A staff librarian specializing in Pacific Northwest materials of the Washington State Library has performed this outreach continuously ever since.

The following is a list of the librarians who have produced Northwest History News Notes:

Hazel Emery Mills: Vol. 58 (January 1967)–Vol. 65 (April 1974)

Nancy Blankenship Pryor: Vol. 65 (July 1974) –Vol. 76 (January 1985)

Jeanne Engerman Crisp:  Vol. 76 (April 1985) –Vol. 82 (April 1991)

Gayle Palmer: Vol. 82 (July 1991) –Vol. 89 (Fall 1998)

Shirley Lewis: Vol. 89 (Fall 1998) –Vol. 100 (Fall 2009)

Sean Lanksbury: Vol. 101 (Winter 2009/2010) –current issue.

Pacific Northwest Quarterly (PNQ) began as The Washington Historical Quarterly (WHQ) in October 1907, making it 110 years old this year.  All of the Washington Historical Quarterly issues are available online free of charge at https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/WHQ/issue/archive.

PNQ also has a freely accessible online index and a table of contents by issue at http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/Website/PNQ/PNQ%20Main.html.

You can access physical copies of all WHQ and PNQ issues at the State Library Reading Room or other holding institutions, and you can access PNQ issues published more than five years ago online by JSTOR subscription at http://www.jstor.org/journal/pacnorwestq

For more information, contact the Pacific Northwest & Special Collections Librarian at [email protected] or 360-704-5279.

You can also contact the Public Services Staff via email, phone, chat, and mail.

The Sea Runners: A Novel. By Ivan Doig. (New York: Atheneum, 1982. 279 pp. Map.)

Recommendation submitted by:
Will Stuivenga, Cooperative Projects Manager, Washington State Library, Tumwater, WA.

There exists an actual letter-to-the-editor published in the Oregon Weekly Times, mentioning three Scandinavians who had managed to travel by canoe from Russian Alaska to Shoalwater (now named Willapa) Bay in 1852/53. Doig’s novel imagines what their trek must have been like, full of trepidations and tribulations, all the way up to and including loss of life.

At the time, apparently the Russians recruited Swedes, Finns, and other “outlanders” as 7-year indentured laborers, to do the real work for the Russian-American Company’s fur-gathering enterprise headquartered in New Archangel, now Sitka, Alaska. It was not a pleasant place much of the time: cold, wet, rough, and not very civilized, with the Russians lording it over the “thugs, thieves, hopeless sots, no few murderers, . . . debtors, escaped serfs,” and the rest of “the flotsam of any vast frontier” as Doig describes them.

So perhaps it’s not too surprising that one of them, Melander by name, a former ship’s first mate, decides to plan a way out, recruiting a couple of his fellows to assist him. The idea is fairly straightforward: he engages the best thief among his fellows to squirrel away the supplies they need: food, maps, a compass, etc., and they intend to steal a large cedar canoe from the local native encampment and paddle their way south to Astoria, where they expect to find passage on the ships that stop there. As the story unfolds, the also indentured blacksmith notices what’s happening, and forces his way into the group, making for a frequently skeptical and less than enthusiastic fourth.

Their imagined adventures, replete with inner turmoil, plus all too real privations and misery, are ably described in intricate detail by the author. Doig’s language here is at times a bit convoluted, requiring careful attention to unravel his precise intent, which is not altogether a bad thing, given that the story and the imagery are worthy of the effort. As is not uncommon with Doig, the interior life, thoughts, and feelings of his characters are of at least equal significance to the landscape and actual events as they unfold. Recommended for anyone with a strong interest in NW history and landscape, and who enjoys well-crafted historical fiction.

ISBN: 978-0-15-603102-8

Available in the Pacific Northwest Collection at NW 813.6 DOIG 1982
Available as an eBook. Not yet available in Digital Talking Book or Braille format.

From the desk of Sean Lanksbury. PNW & Special Collections Librarian

Green River Killer: A True Detective Story. By Jeff Jensen; Illustrated by Jonathan Case; Lettering by Nake Piekos. (Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Books, 2011. 233 pp. Illustrations, map.)

Recommendation by PNW & Special Collections

This graphic novel provides an often neglected perspective to the Green River Killer investigation by recounting the ordeal that his father, King County Detective Tom Jensen,  endured since 1984, when he was assigned to the investigation, through to the 188 days spent interviewing Gary Ridgeway until his November 3, 2003 conviction.

The story is a procedural that balances the horrifying subject matter with a humane tribute to the dedication of law enforcement professionals and the toll such dark work can exact upon their health, their psyches, and their families.  Jensen and Case’s treatment does not reduce characters, but shows their complexity, compelling each side of the story beautifully.  Johnathan Case’s illustrations are carefully wrought to match the story’s delicate balance, making for a moving and disturbing read.  A unique recommendation for fans of true crime and graphic novels.

ISBN-13: 978-1595825605

Available in the Pacific Northwest Collection at NW 364.1523 JENSEN 2011

Beautiful Ruins: A Novel. By Jess Walter. (New York: Harper, 2012. 337 pp.)

Recommendation submitted by:
Will Stuivenga, Cooperative Projects Manager, Washington State Library, Tumwater, WA.

In 1962, a young American movie actress shows up at the remote, obscure, Italian “Hotel Adequate View” thinking that she is dying of cancer. Pasquale, the hotelier, naturally falls in love with her. 50 years later, Pasquale travels to Hollywood, in hopes of finding her again. That’s the story in a nutshell, but there’s so much more!

Beautiful Ruins is Spokane author, Jess Walter’s sixth novel. The story spans 50 years in time, and the novel took 15 years to write, according to the author. The primary venue is a tiny seaside hamlet in Italy, but the story makes brief detours to Hollywood, Seattle, and near the end, Sandpoint, Idaho.

What is the book about? Relationships, of course. Chances for new beginnings, starting over, trying again. Unrequited love, regret, happiness (the pursuit of), and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The book bounces back and forth between then and now, and hops around the world, even spending a brief sidebar in Edinburgh, Scotland, of all places. The eventual cast of characters is much broader than we have time to delineate here, but it includes a jaded Hollywood producer and his bright young assistant, a failed rock singer, and a would-be screenwriter, who is trying to sell a script based on the story of the doomed Donner party, of all things, and more.

There is just something about the mood of the book:  wistful and sweet, enigmatic and hopeful, always yearning for something more. And yet at the same time, it’s a complicated story with more characters and moves than a chess game, which it not in the least resembles. Warning: start reading this book, and you’ll be drawn in, in spite of yourself.

ISBN-13: 978-0061928123

Not yet available at WSL Northwest Collections.
Digital Book editions available for Washington residents unable to read standard print through WTBBL.

An Unattended Death. By Victoria Jenkins. (Sag Harbor, NY: The Permanent Press, c2012. 214 pp.)

Recommendation submitted by:
Carolyn Petersen, Assistant Program Manager, Library Development

Set in Shelton, WA, the first book, in what may be a new police procedural series, does a good job of capturing the ambiance of this lumber mill town.

When a body is found floating in the Puget Sound slough the investigation of an “unattended death” falls to Irene Chavez. Irene had moved back to Shelton from her job as an LA police detective as she felt Shelton would be a better place to raise her son. As it is August, the county sheriff’s department is short staffed so Irene gets the case. Irene’s  instincts tell her that the death of Anne Paris is a homicide instead a sailboat accident. The more Irene investigates Anne’s upper crust East Coast family and house guests, the more she realizes that many folks had reasons to feel wronged by Anne Paris.

Excellent character development, a strong sense of place, and a well crafted mystery with a totally believable solution make this reader hope that the author will add a second book in this series.

ISBN-13: 978-1579622848

Available in the Pacific Northwest Collection at NW 813.6 JENKINS 2012

Avaialble as an eBook. Not yet available in Talking Book or Braille format.

Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist. By Sunil Yapa. (New York, NY: Lee Boudreaux Books/Little, Brown and Company/Hachette Book Group, 2016. 312 pp.)

Recommendation submitted by:
Will Stuivenga, Cooperative Projects Manager, Washington State Library, Tumwater, WA.

This is not a nice book. This is not a pleasant book. But it may be an important one. Parts of it are quite horrific, just plain awful. The descriptions of police brutality will curdle your blood, at least they did mine. This novel tells the story of the protests that accompanied the World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings in Seattle in 1999, and the violent police efforts to clear the streets of what began, at least, as a peaceful demonstration.

Most of the reviews and blurbs I encountered prior to reading the book, tend to focus on one main character, a teen who gets caught up in the protest almost by accident. But the story is actually told from the perspective of several individuals, including two or three of the protesters, several of the cops, including the Chief of Police, who turns out to be the teenager’s father (!), and one of the diplomats, hailing from Sri Lanka, who plans to attend the meetings. We get right inside their heads, and experience what they were thinking and feeling as the events unfold.

The book is well-written–the prose is poetic, even beautiful in many instances. You have to admire the author’s skill and his dedication, and his willingness to tackle a topic of this kind, even if reading it was an effort, and not something I would willingly put myself through again. But for anyone who wants to really experience this important episode in Seattle history, and can tolerate graphic descriptions of violence to get there, it is a powerful read, and one you won’t soon forget.

ISBN: 978-0-316-38653-1

Available at WSL Northwest Collections, NW 813.6 YAPA 2016

and as a Downloadable talking book at the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library.

From the desk of Sean Lanksbury, PNW & Special Collections Librarian

It’s a pretty long list, so we’ve placed these quick links that will jump you to the different subject matter areas:

200s: Religion

300s: Social Sciences

500s: Natural Sciences, Math

600s: Applied Sciences, Technology

700s: Arts

900s: Geography, History

Multimedia

A Still and Quiet Conscience: The Archbishop Who Challenged a Pope, a President, and a Church. By John A. McCoy. (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2015. 344 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references, index.)
NW 282.092 MCCOY 2015

No Silent Witness: The Eliot Parsonage Women and Their Unitarian World. By Cynthia Grant Tucker. (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.  344 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references, index.) Includes information on Mrs. Margaret Hazard Stevens, spouse of first Washington Territorial Governor and United States Congressman, Isaac Ingalls Stevens, and her family.
NW 289.1092 TUCKER 2010

A Saint in Seattle: The Life of the Tibetan Mystic Dezhung Rinpoche. By David P. Jackson. (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2003. 767 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliographical references, index.)
NW 294.3923 JACKSON 2003

Talking Back: Voices of Color. Edited and with an introduction by Nellie Wong. (Seattle: Red Letter Press, 2015. 239 pp. Illustrations.)
NW 305.8009 TALKING 2015

Han in the Upper Left: A Brief History of Korean Americans in the Pacific Northwest. By Korean American Historical Society. (Seattle, WA: Chin Music Press, 2015. 103 pp. Illustrations, map, bibliographical references, index
NW 305.9 HAN IN 2015

Barnyards and Birkenstocks: Why Farmers and Environmentalists Need Each Other. By Don Stuart. (Pullman, Wash.: Washington State University Press, 2014. 280 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references, index.)
NW 333.7609 STUART 2014

When Money Grew On Trees: A.B. Hammond and the Age of the Timber Baron. By Greg Gordon. (Norman : University of Oklahoma Press, 2014) 482 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references, index.)
NW 338.1749 GORDON 2014

Higher: 100 Years of Boeing. By Russ Banham. (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2015. 192 pp. Illustrations, index.)
NW OVERSIZ 338.4762 BANHAM 2015

Boots and Saddles: Military Leaders of the American West. By Thomas D. Phillips. (Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 2015. 390 pp. Bibliographical references, index.)
NW 355.0092 PHILLIP 2015

A Different Battle: Stories of Asian Pacific American Veterans. Edited by Carina A. del Rosario, with a historical essay by Ken Mochizuki and Carina A. del Rosario; contemporary photographs by Dean Wong. (Seattle: University of Washington Press/Wing Luke Asian Museum, 1999. 127 pp. Illustrations, index.)
NW 355.1 DIFFERE 1999

Practice to Deceive. By Ann Rule. (New York: Gallery Books, 2013. 339 pp. Illustrations.) True-crime mystery by the late author set in Langley, WA and revolving around the murder of Russell Douglas and the three people are accused of murdering him: his widow Brenna, her guitar-teacher lover, and an aging beauty queen.
NW 364.1523 RULE 2013

Competitive Struggle: America’s Western Fur Trading Posts, 1764-1865. By R.G. Robertson; photos by Karen A. Robertson. (Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 2012. 330 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliographical references, index.
NW 381.4397 ROBERTS 2012

Slabtown Streetcars (Arcadia Images of Rail). By Richard Thompson. (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2015. 127 pp. Illustrations, maps, index.)
NW 388.46 THOMPSO 2015

Victorian Secrets: What A Corset Taught Me About the Past, the Present, and Myself. By Sarah A. Chrisman; foreword by Sue Lean. (New York: Skyhorse Pub., Inc., 2013. 240 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references.)
NW 391.42 CHRISMA 2013

Wolf Predation in the North Country. By Israel Putnam Callison. (Seattle. 1948. 89 pp. Illustrations.)
NW 599.7444 CALLISO 1948

The Cougar: Beautiful, Wild and Dangerous. By Paula Wild. (Madeira Park, BC, Canada : Douglas & McIntyre, 2013. 288 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references, index.)
NW 599.7524 WILD 2013

The Hidden Life of Wolves. By Jim and Jamie Dutcher, with James Manfull; foreword by Robert Redford. (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2013. 215 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references.
NW 599.773 DUTCHER 2013

Grizzly West: A Failed Attempt to Reintroduce Grizzly Bears in the Mountain West. Michael J. Dax. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2015. 289 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliographical references, index.) Based on the author’s master’s thesis, University of Montana.
NW 599.784 DAX 2015

Marie Equi: Radical Politics and Outlaw Passions. By Michael Helquist. (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2015. 310 pp. Bibliographical references and index.)
NW 610.92 HELQUIS 2015

Riding the High Wire: Aerial Mine Tramways in the West. By Robert A. Trennert. (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2001. 140 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references, index.)
NW 622.66 TRENNER 2001

Tramway Titan: Byron Riblet, Wire Rope and Western Resource Towns. By Martin J. Wells. (Victoria, B.C.: Trafford, 2011. 338 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliographical references, index.
NW 622.66 WELLS 2011

The Mullan Road: Carving a Passage through the Frontier Northwest, 1859-62. By Paul D. McDermott, Ronald E. Grim, and Philip Mobley. (Missoula, Montana: Mountain Press Publishing Company, 2015. 286 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliographical references, index.)
NW 623.6209 MULLAN 2015

Too High & Too Steep: Reshaping Seattle’s Topography. By David B. Williams. (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2015. 239 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references, index.)
NW 624.151 WILLIAM 2015

Alaska’s Skyboys: Cowboy Pilots and the Myth of the Last Frontier. By Katherine Johnson Ringsmuth. (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2015. 267 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references, index.
NW 629.1309 RINGSMU 2015

Weeds: A Farm Daughter’s Lament (American Lives). By Evelyn I. Funda. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2013. 297 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references, index.
NW 636.084 FUNDA 2013

Becoming Salmon: Aquaculture and the Domestication of a Fish (California Studies in Food and Culture, No. 55). By Marianne Elisabeth Lien. (Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2015. 214 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references, index.)
NW 639.3755 LIEN 2015

The Guide to West Coast Cheese: More Than 300 Cheeses Handcrafted in California, Oregon, and Washington. By Sasha Davies. (Portland, Or.: Timber Press, 2010. 224 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliographical references, index.)
NW 641.373 DAVIES 2010

A Fluid Tradition: Northwest Watercolor Society–The First 75 Years. By David F. Martin. (Bellevue, WA : Northwest Watercolor Society, 2015. 128 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references.)
NW OVERSIZ 751.422 MARTIN 2015

Roger Shimomura: An American Knockoff. (Pullman, Washington: Museum of Art/Washington State University, 2014. 63 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references.) This book was published in conjunction with the exhibition, “Roger Shimomura: An American Knockoff”presented at Museum of Art/Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, September-December, 2014; Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University, Salem, Oregon, January-April 2015; and Tacoma Art Museum, Washington, May-August, 2015.
NW 759.13 ROGER S 2014

Yellow Terror: The Collections and Paintings of Roger Shimomura. Curatorial essay by Stacey Uradomo-Barre. (Seattle, WA: Wing Luke Asian Museum, 2009. 88 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references.) This catalogue was published in conjunction with an exhibition organized by the Wing Luke Asian Museum and co-curated by Dr. Stacey Uradomo-Barre and Roger Shimomura, September 11, 2009 through April 18, 2010.
NW 759.13 SHIMOMU 2009

I Found My Friends: The Oral History of Nirvana. By Nick Soulsby. (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2015. 347 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references, index.
NW 782.4216 SOULSBY 2015

100 Things Seahawks Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die (Updated Super Bowl Edition!) By John Morgan. (Chicago, IL.: Triumph Books, 2014. 336 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references.)
NW 796.3326 MORGAN 2014

The Thursday Speeches: Lessons in Life, Leadership, and Football from Coach Don James. By Peter Tormey, Ph.D. (United States, 2014. 219 pp. Illustrations.)
NW 796.3326 TORMEY 2014

Seattle Kung-Fu Club 40 Year Anniversary. By Seattle Kung-Fu Club. (Seattle, WA: Seattle Kung-Fu Club, 2003. 128 pp. Illustrations.
NW OVERSIZ 796.8159 SEATTLE 2003

Seattle Kung-Fu Club 50 Year Anniversary. By Seattle Kung-Fu Club. (Seattle, WA: Seattle Kung-Fu Club, 2014. 167 pp. Illustrations
NW OVERSIZ 796.8159 SEATTLE 2014

Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Herald during The Years 1845-51 (Cambridge library collection. Polar exploration). By Berthold Seemann. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.         2 vols. Illustrations, map, index.) Originally published in 1853.
NW 910.41 SEEMANN 2012 v. 1 & 2

Gloomy Terrors and Hidden Fires: The Mystery of John Colter and Yellowstone. By Ronald M. Anglin and Larry E. Morris. (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. 243 pp. Bibliographical references, index.)
NW 910.92 ANGLIN 2014

Three Years in America: 1859-1862 (The Jacob R. Schiff library of Jewish Contributions to American Democracy). By I.J. Benjamin, translated from the German by Charles Reznikoff; with an introduction by Oscar Handlin. (Philadelphia, Pa.: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1956. 3 vols. in 2. Illustrations) Originally published in 1862 as Drei Jahre in Amerika.
NW 917.8 BENJAMI 1956 v.1, 2 & 3

Lewis and Clark among the Nez Perce: Strangers in the Land of the Nimiipuu. By Allen V. Pinkham and Steven R. Evans; foreword by Frederick E. Hoxie. (Washburn, North Dakota: Dakota Institute Press of the Lewis & Clark Fort Mandan Foundation, 2013. 299 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliographical references, index
NW 917.8042 PINKHAM 2013

Soldiers in the Woods: The U.S. Army’s Spruce Production Division in World War One. By Rod Crossley; edited by Margaret L. Rice. (Portland, Oregon: TimberTimes Inc., 2014. 320 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliographical references, index.)
NW OVERSIZ 940.3797 CROSSLE 2014

An American Hero: Shiro Kashino. Lawrence Matsuda and Matt Sasaki. (Seattle, Washington: Seattle NVC Foundation: Wing Luke Museum, 2015. 42 pp. Illustrations.)
NW 940.5308 MATSUDA 2015

The Middle Columbia Salish (University of Washington Publications in Anthropology   v. 2, no. 4.). By James H. Teit; edited by Franz Boas. (Seattle, Wash.: University of Washington Press, 1928. pp. 89-128.   Bibliographical references.) (Photocopy. Seattle, Wash.: University of Washington, 1986. leaves 89-128.)
NW 970.6 TEIT 1928

Métis in Canada: History, Identity, Law & Politics. Edited by Christopher Adams, Gregg Dahl & Ian Peach. (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2013. 530 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references, index.)  Also issued also in electronic formats.
NW 971.0049 METIS I 2013

Cho’s Story: From the Eyes of a Nisei Son. By Choichi Shimizu. (Milton, Washington: Caring, 2014. 135 pp. Illustrations (some color), maps, bibliographical references.)
NW 973.0495 SHIMIZU 2014

Vendetta: Bobby Kennedy versus Jimmy Hoffa. By James Neff. (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2015. 377 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references, index.) In a book based on newly released documents, the author also includes significant amounts of material on Seattle Teamsters Union Leader Dave Beck and Kennedy’s mission to bring him to justice.
NW 973.922 NEFF 2015

The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey. By Rinker Buck. (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2015. 450 pp. Illustrations, maps, index.) At once an American journey, a work of history, and a personal saga, this book tells the story of Buck’s 2,000-mile expedition across the plains. He was accompanied by three cantankerous mules, his boisterous brother, Nick, and an incurably filthy Jack Russell terrier named Olive Oyl.
NW 978 BUCK 2015

‘A Great Many of Us Have Good Farms’: Agent Peter Ronan Reports on the Flathead Indian Reservation, Montana, 1877-1887. By Peter Ronan; edited by Robert J. Bigart. (Pablo, Mont.: Salish Kootenai College Press, 2014. 438 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliographical references, index.)
NW 978.682 RONAN 2014a

‘Justice To Be Accorded To The Indians’: Agent Peter Ronan Reports On The Flathead Indian Reservation, Montana, 1888-1893. By Peter Ronan; edited by Robert J. Bigart. (Pablo, Montana: Salish Kootenai College Press, 2014. 434 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references and index.)
NW 978.682 RONAN 2014

Indians of the Pacific Northwest: From the Coming of the White Man to the Present Day. By Vine Deloria Jr.; foreword by Billy Frank Jr.; afterword by Steve Pavlik. (Golden, CO: Fulcrum Pub., 2012. 168 pp. Map, index.)
NW 979.5004 DELORIA 2012

Wood, Water & Grass: Meek Cutoff of 1845. By James H. and Theona J. Hambleton. (Baker City, Oregon: James H. Hambleton, 2014. 192 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliographical references, index.)
NW OVERSIZ 979.503 HAMBLET 2014

The Chinese in Washington State. Art and Doug Chin. (Seattle, Wash.: OCA Greater Seattle, 2013. 144 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references.)
NW 979.7004 CHIN 2013

Reflections of the Kettle River Region. Produced by the Kettle River History Club; sponsored by the Curlew Senior Citizens in behalf of the Bicentennial Project of Ferry County. (Curlew, Wash.: Orris Press, 1976. 229 pp. Illustrations.)
NW 979.725 KETTLE 1976

Yakima, a Centennial Reflection, 1885-1985. By George M. Martin, Paul Schafer, William E. Scofield; Pat Brown, editorial consultant. (Yakima, Wash.: Yakima Centennial Commission, 1985. 233 pp. Illustrations, index.)   The second of two volumes of local history.
NW 979.755 MARTIN 1985

Historical Record of Teachers of the Grade and High School of La Conner, Washington and its Environs. By Carroll F. Anderson. (La Conner, Wash.: C.F. Anderson, 1960. 1 volume. Illustrations.   979.772ANDERSO 1960?

The Grand Lady of Mount Baker: A History of the Mount Baker Lodge from 1927-1931. By Michael G. Impero.    (Bellingham, Wash.: Michael Impero, 2015. 192 pp. Illustrations, maps.) Mount Baker Lodge opened in July of 1927 and was destroyed by fire in August of 1931.
NW 979.773 IMPERO 2015

Our Valley: The Yakima Valley through the Eyes of the Yakima Herald-Republic and Its Readers. Presented by Yakima Herald-Republic. (Battle Ground, Wash.: Pediment Pub., 2013. 144 pp. Illustrations, index.)
NW OVERSIZ 979.775 OUR VAL 2013 VAL 2013

Seattle Sketcher: An Illustrated Journal. By Gabriel Campanario, the Seattle Times. (Battle Ground, Washington: Pediment Publishing, 2014. 112 pp. Illustrations.)
NW OVERSIZ 979.7772 CAMPANA 2014

Seattle’s International District: The Making of a Pan-Asian American Community. By Doug Chin. (Seattle, Wash.: International Examiner Press, 2009. 141 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliographical references, index.
NW 979.7772 CHIN 2009

Dim Sum: The Seattle ABC (American Born Chinese) Dream. By Vera Ing. (Seattle: International Examiner Press, 2010. 124 pp. Illustrations.)
NW 979.7772 ING 2010

Boats, Bread and Meat, a Century Ago. By Lilian Lindley. (Olympia, Wash.: The Daily Olympian, c1950. 72 pp. Illustrations.)
NW 979.779 LINDLEY 1950?

Pioneer Musings. By Kitty Wright Blair. (Toledo, Washington: Chapters of Life, 2014. 114 pp. Illustrations.)
NW 979.782 BLAIR 2014

The Toledo Community Story, 1776-1976. By Toledo History Committee. (Toledo, Wash.: Toledo Parent-Teacher Organization, c1976. 198 pp. Illustrations, index.)
NW 979.782 TOLEDO 1976

These Walls Talk: Lewis County’s 1927 Historic Courthouse. By Julie McDonald Zander. (Toledo, Washington : Chapters of Life, 2014. 131 pp. Illustrations, portraits.)
NW 979.782 ZANDER 2014a

Chehalis County Nationality Survey, 1848-1915. By Joe Randich, project director, Dorothea Parker, associate director. (Hoquiam, Wash.: Polson Museum, 1984 (1985 printing) ~ 300 leaves. Illustrations, bibliographical references.) Supported in part by the Washington Commission for the Humanities. Chehalis County was later renamed Grays Harbor County.
NW OVERSIZ 979.795 RANDICH 1984

Multimedia

Kash [Videorecording]: The Legend and Legacy of Shiro Kashino. By Vince Matsudaira. (Los Angeles, Calif.: E-Shadow productions, 2011. 1 videodisc (68 min): sound, color with b&w sequences. 4-3/4 in. DVD, NTSC  16:9 widescreen.) Originally produced as a motion picture in 2011, this is the biography of Shiro Kashino, a nisei who volunteered to fight for the US during WWII, despite being interred at Minidoka. In the Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, he became a decorated hero as he served as a platoon sergeant in Europe. He received a court-martial related to a dance hall brawl in southern France at the end of the war and was reduced to private. 40 years later, his fellow veterans in Hawaii and his wife Louise, feeling he was unfairly tried, begin the process of expunging the court-martial conviction from his Army records and restoring his rank.
NW DVD 940.5308 KASH TH 2011

Portlandtown: A Tale of the Oregon Wyldes. By Robb De Borde. (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2012. 375 pp.)

Recommendation by Carolyn Petersen, Assistant Program Manager, Library Development

What does a reader get when a writer combines gunfights, zombies, circus freaks, and a Portland pioneer family named the Wyldes?  The reader is rewarded with a crackling good read—if the reader’s brain is able to blend westerns, steampunk, sci-fi and historical fiction.  This story begins in 19^th century Astoria when Joseph Wylde goes to bring his father-in-law, the town sheriff, back to Portland with him.  Unfortunately the powers Joseph’s father-in-law had disturbed in Astoria by digging up their graves follow the Wyldes back to Portland—and all hell—well the zombie part of it anyway—breaks loose.  Hopefully this is the start of a series.

Available in the Washington State Library’s Pacific Northwest Collection at NW 813.6 DEBORDE 2012

Digital Book editions available for Washington residents unable to read standard print through WTBBL.

My Sister’s Grave. By Robert Dugoni. (Seattle: Thomas & Mercer, 2014. 410 pp.)

Recommendation by Carolyn Petersen, Assistant Program Manager, Library Development

Tracey Crosswhite became a detective with the Seattle Police Department as a result of her younger sister’s murder. Tracey never was convinced that the man convicted and serving time for her sister’s murder was the true perpetrator. When Sarah’s remains are at last discovered, Tracey thought justice would be served at last.  Instead the repercussions for the small town in the Cascade Mountains where Tracey and Sarah grew up are not at all what Tracey expected.   This title is an engrossing cross between a murder mystery and a legal thriller. If you like books by Scott Turow and Nelson DeMille, then author Robert Dugoni is an author you should investigate.

ISBN-13: 978-1477825570

Available in the Pacific Northwest Collection at NW 813.6 DUGONI 2014
Braille and Digital Book editions available for Washington residents unable to read standard print through WTBBL.

Wilderness: A Novel. By Lance Weller. (New York: Bloomsbury, 2012. 293pp.)

Recommendation by PNW & Special Collections

April 9, 1865 was the day that General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at the McLean House in the village of Appomattox Court House. This is often cited as the official date of the end of the Civil War between the Confederate and Union States, but when Brigadier General Stand Watie of the Trans-Mississippi Department surrendered his Confederate Indian battalion, a mix of Creek, Seminole, Cherokee, and Osage Indians, on June 23 1865, at Doaksville in Indian Territory to Lieutenant Colonel Asa C. Matthews, the ground war was finished. A straggling and uninformed Shenandoah continued to wage an unwanted naval mission until surrendering in London, England on November 6.

As the commemoration of 150 years since the War of Secession winds down, it is important to note that many Union and Confederate veterans headed northwest at the end of their duties, returning to their homes and families or to new lives beyond that terrible time. Lance Weller‘s Wilderness is a fictional account of what one of those lives might look like. The story follows Abel Truman, a soldier badly wounded in the titular battle of 35 years prior, as he and his elderly dog travels inland from his beach homestead near the Quinault into and over the Olympic Mountains. In his travels he encounters natives, scattered settlers, and wanderers — people of both the generous and the violent sort. While there are moments of the pastoral, there are also moments where the reader is flung into the maelstrom.  The story flashes back and forth between Truman’s heroic trek of 1899 and through the Field of the Wilderness of 1864, bearing witness to Abel’s reckoning throughout the ordeal.

Weller’s descriptions are vivid, verging on purple prose at times, but beautifully evocative of the sensual charms of the Pacific Northwest coast. The story is hard-bitten, but specked with lovely and tender passages.

ISBN-13: 978-1608199372

Available in the Pacific Northwest Collection at NW 813.6 WELLER 2012