Oregon Books

The ironic thing about this book is that it was underwritten by Mary and Peter Mark "in honor of the 50th anniversary of Melvin Mark Companies." And I never even heard of these companies, but they must produce a tidy revenue indeed if the two Marks (husband and wife? Brother and sister? Mother and son) could afford to produce such a lavish volume to commemorate themselves and their business acumen. I wonder if I lived in Portland maybe the Melvin Mark Companies would be household words the way the Gap and Levi Strauss are for us here in San Francisco. It's a good lesson in appreciating how no matter how much things seem homogenized here in the US, there will always be pockets of culture that escape notice nearly everywhere else. In any case, the SELECTED WORKS of the Portland Art Museum was compiled ten years ago, long before the current eye on Portland, when Portland was in the doldrums sort of, and way before the opening of the recent extension which in effect doubled the size of the building.

In fact, the extension is called THE MARK BUILDING and until now I never knew why! It was the old Masonic Temple and some say it is still haunted by the moans and whispers of former Masons who resent being stuffed and packed with so much contemporary art and that huge study center. But even in 1996, before the recent heap of gifts that accompanied the new extension opening, PAM had a fine collection, especially of Asian Art and Native American art, maybe too fine! One can't really look, today, at the Kola Nut Container from the Cameroons Grasslands and wonder, maybe they should have left it in the Cameroons, even though it was being "heavily damaged by insects." It's sort of like a native sculpture of a man carrying a pot in his powerful lap and could be a birdbath, except it's a bit more ceremonial. In the old Portland Art Museum, this piece dominated one hall all through the 1970s.

From the same period date the Secret Society masks of the Kwakiutl (from British Columbia), bird masks the purpose of which was to worship the Great Cannibal at the North End of the World. The cannibal is a bird, isn't that odd, maybe not too when one considers the buzzards of the area. Its servant has a thinner, more piercing mask, a bird like a heron, with a long beak to split open a human skull and eat out the brain matter from the open skull (like the end of Hannibal by Thomas Harris).

Diane Arbus photos, and Roy de Carava photos, show us more recent looks at image and the eye. The Arbus is one of those groups of little people she called Midgets, immigrants from Russia who settled in and let her walk into their cozy little midtown living room and preserve them for eternity. The De Carava is one of his "blurs," jazz musicians Ben Webster and John Coltrane frozen as if in the process of melting into each other, a fusion of inspired compassion.

Every page of this wonderful book has something to live for. Whether you like Cindy Sherman or Bronzino, SELECTED WORKS has it all. Thank you, Mark people.

I am a professor of City and Regional Planning and I found this book a much-needed addition to the urban-planning literature. The book is written at a level appropriate for a wide range of audiences including planning students, policy makers, politicians, urban planners, and community activists. The comprehensiveness of the work provides a much-needed explanation for students yearning for a broader understanding of how an ensemble of urban elements can help American cities accommodate growth while sustaining a sense of community for their dwellers.

What is unique about Portland's current land-use system? If planning is so popular, how does one explain the recent backlash? Where would be the balance between regulatory rules and other possibilities? These are examples of questions asked by The Portland Edge (edited by Connie Ozawa), written by a team of academics at Portland State University's School of Urban Studies and Planning. The thirteen chapters of the edited book are organized in four sections. The first section presents the demographic, economic, and civic character of the Portland region by presenting data on key dimensions of economy, equity, and environment. The second section traces Portland's growth-management policies and details the institutional structures by describing a range of the roles of regional and city bodies, such as Metro (the elected regional planning authority), the Portland Development Commission, citizen-involvement mechanisms, and neighborhood associations. The third section unveils Portland's social structures that allow people to create collective visions of community and offers examples of how the underrepresented groups and the citizen advocates work to voice themselves. The last section lays out several issues of the most interest, such as the liveliness of downtown and neighborhoods, housing affordability, implementation of state transportation and environment policies at the local jurisdiction level, and Portland's responses to the homeless.

Those interested in examining the ways in which urban policy and planning have made a difference in the Portland region will find that the book offers a valuable overview of the region, a helpful background of the stressors on the current urban political and social system, and an effective explanation of current conditions in the context of the people and social institutions that have been influential in shaping today's Portland. The book offers the reader a comprehensive range of matters: each chapter picks a different angle of the inquiry--for example, the struggle between the well represented and the underrepresented, the competition between the central city and the suburbs, the rivalry between highways and transit, and the balance between Portland's natural landscapes and the interests of today's property owners. The bulk of the book presents a balanced view of Portland today through operationalizing the concept of quality of life. The book contributes in integrating environmental, social, and economic issues in a systematic evaluation framework that allows other communities to carry out critical and empirical inquiry to examine civic identity and urban environment in their communities. The book does a good job of what it intends to accomplish: to detail successes and challenges in Portland communities.

Here is a booklet that captures the history and very interesting growth of a busy American Fire Department in the upper NorthWest of our country. Real treasures await the reader regarding the unique apparatus, and brave men and powerful horses from the early days of firefighting. Get a copy for your bookshelf!

I gave this to my Grandson who lives in Portland OR and is interested in architecture. He loved the book.

This book has beautiful pictures of the Portland, OR area. Steve is an excellent photographer and has a great eye for picture content. Anyone interested in the Portland area will enjoy this book immensely. I bought three of them, one for myself, one for my son who has moved to Seattle, WA and one for my daughter who has moved to Eagle River, AK. This will give them a little piece of home to look at any time they want.

This, published in the late 1970s, is a gem. Local historian Eugene Snyder, who ought to be justly renowned for his approachable, "historian-for-the-rest-of-us" approach to Portland Oregon history, produced a genius book that is a friendly, chatty rundown of Portland street names, address system history, and where all those names really came from. Among the the things you'll know are:

* Why Ladd's Addition came about, and why it looks the way it does
* Why Downtown's Ankeny Street is so remarkably narrow
* Why Portland's address grid is the way it is (and why we needed a Great Renaming)
* Why those streets in NW Portland run alphabetically
* What game Lovejoy and Pettygrove played to choose the name of the new town

This is a book that is lovingly done, as thoroughly researched as can be and despite its dating (copyright was 1979) still essential. Published by a small Portland press which as since passed into history, it's hard to find, so get it while you can!

PORTLAND OREGON: CITY OF ROSES is 32-page paperback book primarily designed for tourists, or as a gift for family and friends who do not live in Portland and want to see what the City of Roses is all about. It is short on text and large on pictures: postcard style color photographs are on every page, sometimes three or four per page; the first page is a map of Portland. Pictures are divided into ten subsections: "Portland Waterfront - Westside of the Willamette River"; "Downtown Portland"; "East of the Willamette River"; "Sports"; "Rose Festival"; "Rivers of Portland"; "Washington Park"; "Bridges of Portland"; "Nearby Attractions"; "Mount Hood." Dimensions are 10" by 7". It's a beautiful collection of the most stunning sites in the city and surrounding area. I took this book on my trip as an exchange student to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to show my host family where I was from (I was living in Portland at the time), and they were very impressed with Portland's beauty.

Andrew Michael Parodi

Clear, large enough print to read, small size and laminated to protect from that Portland weather! Covers the downtown area very well, and I use it on a weekly basis. Even bought one for my fiancee when she relocated to Portland. All our guests who borrow the car find it to be the best map we have on the area. Great map of the area, helps me get around daily.

Amazing is all that can explain this book. The pictures in this book are some of the best photographes I have ever seen of the City of Roses. If you are interested in Portland, or even if you live there, you must see this book. Nothing is any better.

"Portrait of America" was a popular video documentary series in the mid-eighties, a product of collaboration between Superstation/Turner Broadcasting Corporation and Ambrose Home Video. Well-researched, each video is divided into 5 segments covering most unique historical, social, and cultural aspects of each state. Watching such an interesting documentary, each being roughly about 50 minutes long, without advertisements and other interruptions seems to be a privilege in these days!