The Clear Cut Future. Edited by Clear Cut Press (Astoria, Oregon: Clear Cut Press, 2003. 528 p.)

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

This is a most peculiar book, to misquote singer songwriter Paul Simon. First off, there’s its unusual size: 5 ¾ inches by 4 inches, and about an inch thick. Second, the contents. The book is a wild mélange of essays, criticism, short stories, excerpts from novels, poetry, photo essays, and the like by a variety of authors, whose only commonality appears to be that they are mostly from the Pacific Northwest, although that is never stated, and may not even be true. But many of the items contained in the book have NW settings, themes, or connections.

The quality of the various components arbitrarily concatenated here also varies wildly. The most entertaining and thought provoking include the title piece, which is a photo essay by Robert Adams, Corrina Wycoff’s short story “The Adjunct” and Pravin Jain’s essay “Capitalism Inside an Organization.” The latter provides an insightful glimpse into the workings of the Enron Corporation and some of its NW connections. “The Adjunct” describes the nightmarish existence of an instructor of first-year college writing courses who has to shuttle from campus to campus with never enough hours to complete her work, all to earn a barely subsistence-level “living.” The “Clear Cuts” photography consists of photos depicting exactly what the title says.

Also rich in NW verismo is Casey Sanchez’s “As Bad as It Comes, as Good as It Gets: Canning Salmon in Alaska,” which describes the social and economic phenomena, as well as the actual day to day rigors of traveling to the north country and working in a fish packing plant. The least readable, for me personally, were the academically absurdist writings of The Office for Soft Architecture.
If you are a fan of anything and everything NW, or if you like experimental writing and the good old fashioned avant-garde, you’ll definitely want to check out this book. Otherwise, you needn’t bother.

ISBN: 0-9723234-1-4

Available at the Washington State Library, NW 813.5408 CLEAR C 2003
Not available in eReader, Braille, or Audiobook editions

View other works by Clear Cut Press

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

When you visit the local history museums, do you find yourself wishing you knew more about those mysterious chipped points under the glass? Perhaps you are a collector, but are not entirely sure where or who certain parts of your collection came from. If so, then the State Library has added a new reference that will pique your interest.

Stone Projectile Points Of The Pacific Northwest: An Arrowhead Collector’s Guide To Type Identification. By E. Scott Crawford (Carrollton, Tex.: Black Rock Publishing, ©2010. 130 p.)

This work is the lifelong achievement of the author, an expert collector who began his journey in 1962.  It identifies 62 different arrowhead, dart, and lance points, with full descriptions and illustrations to help you learn more about these historic indigenous hunting tools.  It covers the geographic regions now occupied by the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, with northern portions of California and Nevada, and western portions of Montana and Wyoming.

This book contains an introduction to identifying points and a glossary of terms.  It then proceeds to a discussion of the geographic features and the lithic (stone or rock) resources for each of the four Pacific Northwest regions named in the book.  The chronological and temporal location of the point types are wonderfully illustrated in the following section, and then an entire section is dedicated to describing the manufacture of projectile points. The index of projectile points are organized by general shape, then by primary characteristics.  This is an essential guide to both the hobbyist and the casual collector, and a fascinating read for those curious.

ISBN-10: 1453798471

Available at the Washington State Library, NW 979 CRAWFOR 2010
Available as an eReader edition.
Not available in Braille or Audiobook editions

Slade Gorton: A Half  Century in Politics.  By John C. Hughes.  (Olympia, Wash.: Washington State Legacy Project, Washington Secretary of State, 2011)

As a state legislator, attorney general and U.S. senator, his 50-year career in public service put him on the front lines of a host of controversial issues—from redistricting to fishing rights disputes, the battle over the spotted owl and dam breaching. His service on the 9/11 Commission revealed his tenacity to find the truth. Often characterized as an icy intellectual, Gorton emerges as a complex, thoughtful man.

Read more at the Legacy Project’s Oral History site.

Some reviews have already started pouring in.  Consider this one from John Dodge, Environment Reporter for The Olympian.

Available at the Washington State Library, NW 979.7043 HUGHES 2011
Available as a free eReader edition.
Not available in Braille or Audiobook editions.

Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America.  By Eric Jay Dolin. New York, N.Y. : W.W. Norton & Co., 2010. 442 p.

Recommendation submitted by Gordon Russ, Volunteer, Washington State Library, Tumwater, WA

Mr. Dolin takes us on a journey, following the fur trappers west as America grows in size and maturity.  His story starts in the late 1500s with some of the early French explorers.  The fur trade really gets going in the 1620s with the coming of the Dutch settlers and their need for income. They start a vigorous trade with the Native Americans for beaver pelts, much desired in Europe.   The French and English quickly join the Dutch as they migrate to North America in search of new lands, religious freedom, and the need for income.  They too find the need to trade for the highly valued furs in the virgin lands.  The battle for Beaver pelts stirs much unrest between the home countries of these early settlers this leads to conflicts in Europe as well.

The fur trade moves west into the Great Lakes, up the Missouri river, into the Rocky Mountains, then down the Columbia River. Dolin takes us on an adventure: introducing us to the colorful people and characters of the of the fur trade such as Henry Hudson, John “Big Belly” Printz, John Jacob Astor, Christopher Hudson “Kit” Carson, Jim Bridger, Jedediah Smith, “Buffalo Bill” Cody and many others are introduced.  The book becomes a good primer of American History.  Dolin ties together those stories of our past and its people into a continuous thread of how we became who we are.

While the Beaver Fur trade and the genesis of America are percolating on the East Coast, the Spanish and Russians are not forgotten as they nibble away at the West coast in search of the Sea Otter.  All parties come together for the final confrontation right here in the Pacific North West.  As the battle for dominance of this new land rages, the participants drop out one at a time.  First, the Spanish leave, then the Russians and French, which leaves only the British and Americans to confront each other on the new frontier for the furs.  They discover they both have exhausted the Beaver, the Sea Otter and the reason they were there in the first place.  This leaves the land to those who wanted it – the Native Americans and the Americans, but that is another story for another time.

So sit back and wrap yourself in your favorite buffalo robe and enjoy a good read of adventure and riches.

ISBN-13: 9780393067101

Available at WSL, NW 381.4568 DOLIN 2010
Available as an eBook.
Not available in talking book or Braille editions.

The Garden That You Are.  By Kate Gordon. Winlaw, B.C. : Sono Nis Press, c2007. 192 p.

Recommendation by:
Rand Simmons, Acting Washington State Librarian, Tumwater, WA.

This is a lovely book. Perhaps I feel that because I am a gardener. I just spent an hour (or was it more) drifting through this book. Take the photos in first before you read the text. Gardeners love to talk about gardening – to anyone – but nothing is richer than gardeners talking to gardeners.

In The Garden That You Are, Kate Gordon opens a portal to the lives of eight gardeners in British Columbia’s Slocan Valley. Here we meet Edda West, Steven Mounteer, Victoria Carleton, Rabi’a, Brenda Elder, Gail Elder, Eliza Gooderham and Pete Slevin. They tell us about their gardens and their lives and how they are intertwined. We learn about “their favorite friends” calendula, cherries, kale, potatoes, hyacinths and more and about herbal medicinal and more. The photographs are engaging. I urge you to read this book. Go down the rabbit hole.

ISBN: 1-55039-160-7

Available at the Washington State Library, NW 635.0922 GORDON 2007

Lillian Walker, Washington State Civil Rights Pioneer: A Biography and Oral History. By Lillian Walker & John C. Hughes. Olympia, WA : Washington State Legacy Project, Office of the Secretary of State, c2010. 198 p.

Recommendation by:
Rand Simmons, Acting Washington State Librarian, Tumwater, WA.

“It was 1944, the apex of World War II, and on the home front the Navy was keeping an eye on its Negroes. Twelve hundred worked at the Bremerton shipyard, including 300 newcomers in the first eight weeks of the year. They were angry because many businesses, including cafes, taverns, drug stores and barber shops, displayed signs saying, “We Cater to White Trade Only.” One of the dissidents was 31-year-old Lillian Walker, whose husband worked at the shipyard. She was the recording secretary of the Puget Sound Civic Society, a civil rights coalition formed by the newly chartered Bremerton branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.” (Excerpt from Lillian Walker: Civil rights pioneer, John C. Hughes, http://www.sos.wa.gov/legacyproject/oralhistories/lillianwalker/default.aspx.)

This is the definitive biography of Ms. Walker, a civil rights pioneer in Washington State. It is both a biography and an oral history and eminently readable. Readers interested in race relations, civil rights history and the civil rights of African American women in particular will enjoy this book. This book is about the history of Bremerton, Washington and will appeal to those with an itch to read well written local history as well as to those who love to read biographies.

ISBN-13: 978-1889320229

Available at the Washington State Library, NW 323.092 WALKER 2010 / WA 353.1 St2lil w 2010.
Available in a Braille edition.
Oral history is available as a PDF edition. View online from Washington State Library.
Not available in talking book edition.

Essential wines and wineries of the Pacific Northwest : a guide to the wine countries of Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, and Idaho. By Cole Danehower ; photography by Andrea Johnson. Portland, Or. : Timber Press, 2010. 308 p.

Review submitted by:
Rand Simmons, Acting Washington State Librarian, Tumwater, WA

Whether you’re simply curious, an aspiring wine connoisseur, or an aficionado, you will be charmed by this book. It is a solid book, 308 pages, and worth a first reading for the photographs and captions alone. It is a travelogue through the wine countries of Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Idaho. It is a curriculum on the geography, geology climatology and edaphology of the Pacific Northwest and yet it is not academic.

The text is readable and interesting. Articles such as “Surviving Disaster Together” (p. 52), “Sustainable Viticulture,” (p. 143) and “Biodynamic Wine” (p. 134-135) tell the story of growing grapes and making wine in our corner of the world. Each state or province section begins with a wine country at a glance section for ready reference and each wine country (DVA or designated viticultural area) has the same. “Wineries and Wines to Sample” provides the stories of 160 wineries of the more that 1,000 wineries of the Pacific Northwest.

As a reference source, the book includes a glossary, list of wine grape varieties grown in the Pacific Northwest, a bibliography and an index. Missing from the index are references to towns and cities to which the wineries are attached. The book is not a hardback but is pleasingly flexible and easy to handle. At $24.95 this is a good choice both for libraries and the individual reader.
ISBN-13: 978-0881929669

Available at the Washington State Library, NW 641.2209 DANEHOW 2010
Not available in Braille, Talking Book or eReader editions.

The Big Burn : Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America. By Timothy Egan.
Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. 324 p.

Recommendation by:
Carleen Jackson, Director, Heritage Center, Olympia, WA.

I recommend this wonderful history of a huge fire that destroyed much of the newly designated National Forest land in 1910.  Equally fascinating is the story of how the US Forest Service got its beginnings through the work of Teddy Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot.  Although most of the fire destroyed lands in Idaho and Montana, Washington State also figures prominently in the story.

The best thing about the book is that it reads almost like a novel, although it is historically correct.  Egan tells the story through the true-life characters: Familiar names such as Gifford Pinchot, John Muir, Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft.  He also includes the lesser-known people:  railroad tycoons, brothel and tavern keepers, newly minted forest rangers, and men and women who fought the fire.  This fire set the precedent for the long-standing policy of the Forest Service to aggressively fight fires, rather than manage them as the Native Americans did.

Timothy Egan is also the author of The Worst Hard Times about the dustbowl in the Midwest, and The Good Rain about his travels around Washington State.

ISBN-13: 978-0618968411

Available at the Washington State Library, NW 973.911 EGAN 2009.
Also available in talking book and eBook editions.
Not available as a Braille edition.