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Oregon Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Oregon
Indian Baskets of Central California: Art, Culture, And History (Indian Baskets of California and Oregon Series)
Published in Hardcover by Miwok Archaeological Preserve of Marin (2006-06-27)
Author: Ralph Shanks
List price: $45.00
New price: $29.68
Used price: $30.26

Average review score:

This is a "Must Have" book.
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-14
I have a large shelf of books on indian basketry. This Shanks book will be put first in line. For the tribes included, the book covers historical, cultural, and ethnographic aspects in a very readable form. But its unrivaled aspect is in diagnostics and the technical details. Boring? Hardly! The authors show how the artisitic and aesthetic values derive from the weaving details. The authors trace the migration and fate of tribal peoples through analysis of their weaving. While the book is of "coffee table" quality, it not just a pretty once over dust catcher. I will certainly buy their next volume in the series.

To anyone interested in the artworks or culture of the American Indian, this is a must have treasure. In fact, it can well stand first in line among any indian textile, carving, pottery, or beadwork books that I have ever seen.

Haven't exactly read it but...
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-06
We had the author (Ralph Shanks) as a math teacher in sixth grade-- truly the best teacher we have EVER had! I've never read his books but he used to show us slides of the material, anyway, just be aware when reading this i'm sure fascinating book, that the author is a really good teacher ( which is completely irrelevant we know, but...)

A beautiful book
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-02
More than exceptionally good regional art, California Indian baskets are amongst the most beautiful and finest baskets in the world. No other book covers basketry with the detail, care and insight of this volume. Approximately 200 baskets are shown in full color along with an enjoyable text that makes reading a pleasure. Basketry studies, anthropology, history, art, archeology and linguistics are all brought together in this unprecedented book. "Indian Baskets of Central California" is full of fascinating information. There are vibrant baskets covered with hundreds of tiny feathers, miniature baskets so small they literally can sit on the head of a pin, feast baskets so large it took several men to lift one when full, and culinary baskets as beautiful as a great painting. You will be proud to own this fine book.

Important Addition to the Field
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-22
Ralph Shanks has more than one passion that he writes about. He's known nationwide in Coast Guard history circles as one of the country's leading chroniclers of the history of the United States Life-Saving Service, a predecessor to the Coast Guard. But little do those folks know - except maybe those on the West Coast, of his level of scholarship as it pertains to a subject seemingly as far away from motor lifeboats as one can get: Native American basketry.

Indian Baskets of Central California is split geographically into three sections: San Francisco Bay and Monterey Bay, the interior coast range mountains, and the Sierra Nevada and the Delta. Each section highlihghts the basketry of different tribes, both in text and imagery. The book, in fact, is heavily illustrated with photography of existing baskets from collections all over the west coast. The history of the development of each type of basket is told, as is the story behind its ultimate use. The details pertaining to each individual basket's story are as intricately woven into storylines as the baskets themselves were crafted.

Ralph and his wife/editor Lisa Woo Shanks have collaborated on several projects, including the North American Indian Travel Guide. Independently, Lisa is the editor of the Basketry of California and Oregon Series. Their expertise for this very precise subject shines through in this important book, one that will help keep alive fading arts and cultures of the past.

Oregon
Keiko Speaks: Keiko's True Story Based on His Communications with Bonnie Norton
Published in Paperback by Animal Messenger Pub. (2004-01)
Authors: Bonnie Norton and Keiko
List price:
New price: $24.95
Used price: $5.07
Collectible price: $18.50

Average review score:

Amazing, touching and sad
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2005-05-24

My boyfriend contacted Bonnie Norton awhile back and told her he was taking me on a suprise trip to Washington and the Puget Sound area. I wanted to thank you, Bonnie, so much for the copy of Keiko Speaks you sent to me. It means so much to know his story in his own words. After reading the book, I went out and bought Communicating with Whales: An Orca's Perspective by Mary Getten and read it straight throughout the night (here's to Lolita!).

Thank you for caring the way you do, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for being such a wonderful friend and shoulder to cry on for Keiko when he was losing so much.

I hope this book touches thousands as it has touched me. I hope one day I could help the whales to be understood as you have done :) The orcas have always been my life ever since I was a child, sometimes it feels like they're my soul.

I know Keiko appreciated every second of help and love you gave to him.

Thank you for being his voice.

Thanks for everything,
~Lisa

Recommended reading
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2005-03-08
Keiko is the orca whale that starred in the movie "Free Willy". Keiko Speaks is a true story based upon Keiko's communications with Bonnie Norton, beginning with their first meeting at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in 1997. Their's was a relationship that continued for the next four years as Keiko's trainers and aquarium personnel tried repeatedly to return him to the ocean. Here related are Keiko's four years in Iceland, his incredible swim to Norway, through to his last communication in 2003 when he again repeated an often expressed desire to remain with people. Keiko Speaks is especially recommended reading for animal rights activists, fans of Keiko from his film aquarium appearances, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in animal/human communications.

Keiko's Frustration
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2005-01-28
I have read the book and it was very emotional for me. With all of Keiko's own body language and behavior it was VERY apparent what he wanted...to be with people. Keiko was a true free spirit with a purpose to HELP us understand his world. I could feel his frustration after every attempt to get his desires fulfilled failed. Keiko's human bonding was of our own doing and we should have honored his desire to stay with us. He asked so little. The fact that he died alone breaks my heart. The book touched me in so many ways and was very inspirational.

Keiko died of a broken heart...
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-02-10
I believe this book is an important read for anyone who ever loved or cared about Keiko. So many people wanted him to be free, but it was quite clear that he wanted to be with people. I only wish his care-takers would have honored his wishes. For those of you who are skeptics about animal communication, please open your mind and your heart. Animals are not underlings...they are equals and MUST be respected. They are not our property! They give so much of themselves to us and it's time we give back. I love Keiko very much and this book absolutely broke my heart and made me cry. Even though the book filled me with devastation for what we did to Keiko, I am very glad I read it. Now I know his true story and he has such a beautiful, important message to share with the world. He was such a special, loving, and beautiful creature who deserved everything good we could give to him. I believe now that the mission to set him free bordered on cruelty. He died of a broken heart...alone! How could we treat such a wonderful creature in such an apalling way. All he wanted to do was give his love to the world...and we denied him everything he wanted. I love you forever, Keiko. Rest in peace knowing that your story is being shared with the world. It's not too late!

Oregon
The Language of Elk (Carnegie Mellon University Press Series in Fiction)
Published in Paperback by Carnegie-Mellon University Press (2006-02-06)
Author: Benjamin Percy
List price: $16.95
New price: $15.11
Used price: $14.73

Average review score:

Great stories and that incredible buzz I am used to from Stephen King and Ray Bradbury
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-15
You may find it a bit unusual to find a comparison with Stephen King and Ray Bradbury but that is exactly what popped up in my mind while I was reading "Language of Elk" and "Refresh, Refresh".

Is it the story itself, the similes, the metaphors, gritty language, blend of reality and subconscious voice in the story, I do not know.

All I know there is that buzz that makes you turn pages wanting for more. Benjamin Percy is an author to watch.

These stories will shake you in a good way.

Strong read from a talented writer
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-21
The Language of Elk, the debut book by writer Benjamin Percy, contains 8 stories about the people and life in a place called Oregon. As the jacket text reads, "The Language of Elk assembles its cast from the mountain towns and low-life taverns and high desert ranches of Oregon -- a state that in isolated pockets remains a still-unfinished place, the frontier."

The stories in this book show us some unique characters and surprising situations. There a man who digs up and steals Native American relics, including the mummified corpse of a dead man, in his living room, a former small town high school football hero trying to find his way in adulthood, the owner of a ranch where soft men come to play cowboy and hunt their own game for a few days, a man who hunts for Sasquatch, a man who work together on a marijuana farm, and a man who falls in love with the bearded lady at a circus that comes to town.

Benjamin Percy is a promising young author who can tell a story and whose descriptions of relationships are very strong. His prose is sharp, right on, his settings strong, and his characters unique and memorable. These are stories that will linger in your mind for a long while after reading them. Overall, this is a strong first book from a talented young man, whose work engages his readers' imaginations and hearts, and will have you wanting for more. This book is highly recommended!


--Mitchell Waldman, author of A Face in the Moon

The Language of Elk
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-17
If you unearthed an ancient artifact would you take it home and display it? What if the find was a corpse?

What do elk think about? Do you think it's possible to bond better with elk than other human beings?

If you were a big foot hunter would you be mad if your wife was having an affair with the creature? Would you even know the signs of such a tryst?

Can a bearded lady find love? Can a bearded lady find lust?

The Language of Elk challenges the reader to think about these and other very creative, interesting, and sometimes somewhat outlandish situations. I admit, I was quickly captivated by this book's wit and freshness from the very first story. However, when the stories only got more entertaining and imaginative from there I was completely thrilled. Although some of the situations seem far fetched, the foundation of realistic human behaviour described adds something extra special to the charm of these works.

A remarkable read
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2006-06-06
Percy is blessed with the ability to engage his reader via striking use of similies and metaphors that leave you grinning at his brilliance. His collection of short stories is unlike any you'll ever encounter.

A remarkable read.

Oregon
Living With Earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest
Published in Paperback by Oregon State University Press (2004-04)
Author: Robert S. Yeats
List price: $29.95
New price: $29.95
Used price: $6.92

Average review score:

Best book on quakes in Pacific Northwest
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-30
I use this book in teaching a college introductory science class. It is clearly written and presents earthquakes from the unique perspective of the Pacific Northwest. There is an alternative introductory book by Bruce Bolt on earthquakes in general, and another with emphasis on California by Sue Hough. Each has its strengths - the Hough book is particularly well-written, the Bolt book has good pictures and illustrations and a dry wit, and this one builds upon the findings of the leading scholars of the Oregon-Washington region to show the big picture of science and government's role in hazard management.

With a good index, list of regional earthquakes, and glossary, an attentive reader will gain an in-depth knowledge of some geophysics and its serious hazards for Cascadia.

Fascinating! Reader-friendly and intelligent, on top of it.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 1999-03-06
The book is great for getting people aware that the PNW also has a fault line. And Mt. Rainier is more than a mountain. But he says it not to scare you. It educates you in a relaxing manner. This should be mandatory reading for grades 9-12. Highly recommend it!!!

Fascinating! Reader-friendly and intelligent, on top of it.
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 1999-03-06
The book is great for getting people aware that the PNW also has a fault line. And Mt. Rainier is more than a mountain. But he says it not to scare you. It educates you in a relaxing manner. This should be mandatory reading for grades 9-12. Highly recommend it!!!

a necessary read
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 1999-11-07
A book that will hopefully wake people up who live here in the NW and make them realize that we are at just as much risk for earthquakes as california. I was a 1 year old and my parents recall their terror of ensuring my safety as well as their own during the 1965 quake that hit Wa state measuring over a 7. We should all take heed to the words written and secure ourselves by having a 3 day supply of food and water, knowing what the energency response of our childrens's schools are. Because the quake that hit this summer is just a prelude to the massive one that will hit.

Oregon
Moon Handbooks Columbia River Gorge: Including Complete Coverage of Portland (Moon Handbooks)
Published in Paperback by Avalon Travel Publishing (2002-02-28)
Authors: Stuart Warren and Brian Litt
List price: $14.95
New price: $7.65
Used price: $3.74

Average review score:

Excellent reference
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-04
Used 2 different versions of Moon Handbooks for trip to NW and both were invaluable. This series gives far more detail then a Lonely Planet or Rough Guide which I normally buy. We used it to plan trips, select accommodations that were NOT chains and found reviews to be spot on. Since the book focuses on just one place in Oregon, it is able to go into far greater detail then the more generalized travel books do.
Because of this and the Oregon Coast version, I buy the Moon Handbooks now over the others.
Well worth the price.

Great Book About The Columbia River Area
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-08
MOON HANDBOOKS COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE: INCLUDING COMPLETE COVERAGE OF PORTLAND is a wonderful book about northern Oregon and southern Washington, including complete coverage of the Portland-Vancouver metro area. Thus, you get information on both rural pleasures, such as hiking and white-water rafting, and urban ones, including shopping, dining, and museums. This is a book that anyone with an interest in geography must own.

Wonderful Guidebook!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-09
I am making a long journey next year that will include the Columbia Gorge and this book really helps define the areas I wish to see. It has been really helpful in the lodging as well as the parks and hiking. I am a photographer and plan on taking numerous images on this trip, so I like to know well ahead of time what I will be seeing. I highly recommend this guidebook to those that visit this area.

Like having a local with you on vacation!
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-07-22
We had never been to the northwest before and wanted to get the most out of our first trip. This guide was like having a local with us on the trip. We were able to get to the numerous falls, rapids, windsurfing areas and hikes without wandering around. We stayed in a great hotel that was reported on and picked from the recommended restaurants. The book was well worn when we got home. I highly recommend it.

Oregon
Mush On and Smile: Klondike Kate, Queen of the Yukon
Published in Paperback by Muddy Puddle Press (2002-08)
Authors: Val Dumond and Babe Lehrer
List price: $19.95
New price: $15.00
Used price: $4.94
Collectible price: $19.95

Average review score:

Mush On and Smile: Klondike Kate, Queen of the Yukon
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2003-05-28
Wonderful job of compiling information for this piece of historical fiction! Having heard so much about the Alaskan gold rush and Klondike Kate, I was most interested in reading this version. It made for great reading; especially with the author's slant of Kate reflecting back years later. It truly made it hard to determine fact from fiction. A time stopper in literature! This book was also reviewed by the Tacoma Koffee Singles.

Mush On and Smile
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2002-08-27
It's about time someone wrote a story for us older folks. I immediately identified with Kate - aches and pains and worries and all! How I'd love to talk to my 20-year-old self. If only I could find her! Maybe I should try the desert, as Kate did. I love this book.

Read on and Smile!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2002-09-07
A dear friend of mine once said, "A woman who tells you her age will tell you anything!" The reader of "Mush on and Smile," is given a unique opportunity to relish the thoughts of a reflective 70-year-young celebrity -- a former showgirl in the wilderness of the Alaskan Yukon -- who probably has never told her real age to anyone. Kate Rockwell's prospective marriage causes her to review her life, her performing career, and her enduring, unrequitted love and ask, "Who am I, really, after all?" She can hardly reveal the answer to herself, let alone to her friends and fans who know her only as Klondike Kate: Queen of the Yukon. Her soulful efforts to discover the real Kate Rockwell provide an intriguing, tender page-turner for the reader of this delightful book. You will find that you do not want to put this book down. Fortunately, it's a quick read -- perfect for a weekend vacation or cross-country flight.

Genuine page turner
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2002-09-09
I bought this book for a vacation read. I finished it in two days. The mixture of historical fact and fiction are woven to produce a multi-layered plot and a bit of a twist at the end. The romantic element is written in a way that every woman of every age will enjoy. I was reminded of Jan Karon's Mitford series, well written, characters that you feel like you really get to know and can't wait to read the next page. I bought 2 more for gifts for friends. ENJOY!

Oregon
The Oregon Trail II: The Official Strategy Guide
Published in Paperback by Prima Games (1996-11-15)
Author: Prima
List price: $19.95
New price: $2.95
Used price: $0.01
Collectible price: $19.95

Average review score:

Amazing
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-20
Wow! This game is really fun! its addicting! I wouldn't recomend it for kids under 5, and kids under 7 might have to mute it, cause i remember the music and the sound effects when someone died or something kinda scared me. Okay, i mean really scared me. But it doesn't now. Want some tips?
1. Never never EVER use a connestoga wagon. Buy a farm wagon. it tips over way less.
2. Always bring camphor. You never know when a person will get a concussion
3. If you're going to oregon, don't take the toll road. it takes way longer than the columbia route and theres a really hard hill you're going down. 23 of my people have died on that road. oh, and pay someone to raft you down the columbia. If you can't afford this, then cross your fingers and hope for the best
4. If you're going to california, don't take hastings cutoff. how'd u like a million mile cross in a desert or tundra?
5. Start in April or May. I made the mistake of going in June and i got to nevada when the winter snows hit and my party was stuck in the sierra nevadas just like the donners (we didn't eat eachother, though)
6. While hunting, don't shoot at bears. if you miss, the bear could and will bite you
7. During a buffalo stampede, go hunting baby. Allelujah!
8. My recommended occupation is pharmacist. You have enough money, have medical AND botany skills, and that leaves enough room for other skills
i hope you can use these 2 your advantage <3

This is a great guide for mastering the game!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2001-02-26
I love the Oregon Trail II game and this book provided tons of useful information in helping understand what the pioneers faced on their journey west. It helped me achieve a really high score too (34,085)!! It is packed with information on which trail to take, how to load your wagon, which wagon to choose, which draft animals are best, how to care for your people, and so much more. I'm hooked on the game and the Strategy Guide helped me appreciate this bygone era for all it was worth. I think it is a great compliment to owning the game!

Not only helps with the game...it's also good reading!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 1999-12-23
The Official Strategy Guide is a wonderful guide. It not only helps you through your journey, but it is very informative. I would find myself sitting down to read the guide more than using it while I was playing the game. It has a lot of historical facts about the trail, the people, towns, and diseases. I would recommend buying it, because it is two-fold, informational for the game and for yourself!

Very helpful
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 1999-02-22
If you are playing the 2 version of the game this book is the best. I hope to see one for the newest game version. It is still helpful in your travels. Give it a try.

Oregon
Paradise Wild: Reimagining American Nature
Published in Paperback by Oregon State University Press (2003-03)
Author: David Oates
List price: $21.95
New price: $10.00
Used price: $0.06

Average review score:

A different perspective on nature
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2003-10-09
A book of hard-won hope for everyone who loves the
natural world. Reminds us how deeply wild we all
are...Oates takes us on thought experiments, climbing
trips to high mountains, salmon-finding journeys up
the mighty Columbia--all in bright, crisp, personal
writing. A pleasure on every page!

Eden Found?
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2003-09-30
In Paradise Wild, David Oates explores the confusion between wilderness and wildness that often gets in the way of rational ecological thought. What we consider "wilderness" is often the cultural myths of lost Eden shrouding our view of the present reality. We tend to expend all of our energy extolling our grief while never really confronting the path that brought us here. Engaging the "wildness" that exists in everything, including humans, is a significant step on the road to ecological health.

Slipping between autobiographical narrative, academic research and philosophical contemplation, Oates tackles a difficult subject in a personable and readable fashion. He understands that in order to make real progress in our relations with the natural world, we will have to transform our perceptions of it, and is brave enough to challenge conventional wisdom on environmentalism. His writing is infused throughout with an arresting sense of place that is likely to kindle one's own Muir visions. Fortunately, after reading this, you'll be able to have them as easily in the backyard as atop a Sierra Nevada peak. A great book both for those already versed in their Wendell Berry and those wanting to explore the next wave of ecology.

Dwelling in Mystery and Wildness
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2003-09-14
David Oates is a skilled, compelling guide through the ecological, political, literary, ethical, and spiritual challenges of our troubled times. There is hardly anywhere he doesn't take his readers for at least a moment, and, like Garrison Keelor, he addresses "life's persistent questions," with irony, humor and knife sharp intellegence. This is a book to read through once, as I did, with minimum interruptions, then to be savored a piece at a time. As he explores intellectually and metaphorically the connections between the human and the non-human worlds, he draws readers beyond despair into hope grounded in what is. And, by the way, Oates' writing is clean, accessible, and powerful. I first read Paradise Wild sitting in my garden; the next time I lift a pack and head into the wilderness, I plan to take it along.

A different shade of green
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2003-09-09
Enviromentalists and wilderness lovers who have been sinking deeper into the morass of despair over our seeming headlong rush into self-destruct would be well-advised to check out David Oates paradgm-shaking and highly readable volume. Oates follows the cultural myth of paradise lost through its many historical manifestations and then proposes a brand-new myth behind which suddenly surges a deep new sense of hope. If you catch what he's saying here you will find yourself walking through the wildness of the wilderness into the wildness of the suburbs and the malls until you arrive at an unexpected wildness in your own soul. This one really shook my world. Try it!

Oregon
Perishable: A Memoir
Published in Kindle Edition by Chicago Review Press (2006-04-01)
Author: Dirk Jamison
List price: $17.95
New price: $9.99

Average review score:

The yin and yang of a dysfunctional family
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-14
Funny, absurd, and heartbreaking moments abound in this memoir, which offers an incredibly dispassionate account of being raised, on the brink of poverty, by a freeloading father and codependent mother. In a surprising and original way, the extreme differences between his parents seem to operate like yin and yang forces that converge into the strangely sane wholeness of Dirk's own mindful and even compassionate perspective on his parents and his past.

Must read
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-11
Once you open this book, you won't be able to put it down until it's finished. There's never a dull moment. The story is heartbreaking and pretty funny at times & the author's writing style is sharp and smart.

Perishable has a lot in common with The Glass Castle, which is one of my favorite memoirs. Both stories make you wonder what in the hell the parents are thinking.

I'm very curious about what happens to the family after the book ends. I can't wait to read the author's next book.

Frank, well-written memoir of a most unusual dysfunctional family
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-06-10
The title of Dirk Jamison's slender memoir Perishable is a reference to the most striking oddity of the author's childhood, that his father--a man for whom the notion of responsibility was anathema--undertook to feed his family of five for a number of years by "trashing," taking recently discarded food prised from dumpsters home to the family dinner table. This was a lifestyle choice rather than necessity. Able-bodied but unwilling to waste his time on a paying job, the author's father saw eating trash as a means of gaining free time: "More trash means less work. Less work means more time." But his enthusiasm for jars of expired pickled eggs and the like was not shared by the rest of the family. The elder Jamison's bizarre take on life was coupled with a selfish abdication of parental responsibility. But his father's instability, if perhaps the worst of what the author endured growing up, was not the whole of it. Jamison's mother was the better parent of the two, but she brought her own problems to the familial mix. Now "slinking off to cry with slabs of chocolate," now refusing a knee operation because she was sure it implied temporary amputation of the affected limb, Jamison's mother, the author explains, was not so much crazy as stupid: "'Ma'am, are you insane?' is the question that nobody ever asks. But I can see that question in their eyes, and it's a misdiagnosis I'm always grateful for. Much preferable to the actual problem, which appears to be staggering stupidity." There were also the regular abuses of Jamison's Mengele-esque older sister and, in the author's adolescence, the in-retrospect-inappropriate attention of "Scoutmaster Gary," the Mormon overseer of a series of Church-sponsored activities in which Jamison took part. In short, the author's home life was unstable, and his father's mode of parenting arguably a form of abuse. Jamison and his siblings lacked dependable adult figures who were capable of making rational decisions on behalf of the family.

Jamison tells the story of his unusual childhood in spare, unflinching prose. Neither sentimental nor self-pitying, the author approaches his subject with something like journalistic dispassion. He is startlingly frank. This is most admirable not when he is detailing his family's failures but rather when he confesses to poor behavior of his own during the period. In the end Jamison's remarkable account of his peculiar upbringing is probably more universal in its scope than he intended. My guess is that a lot of readers will find much that's familiar in the book, their own imperfect familial relationships here writ more extreme. Thus Perishable isn't merely a good read. It may help you laugh at your own crazy relatives.

Debra Hamel -- author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in ancient Greece (Yale University Press, 2003)

My Family was Dysfunctional but This One, WOW!
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2006-04-19
All of us grew up in families that were more or less dysfunctional. But this one takes the cake. Well, it wasn't as bad as those families you see on the TV news where a child is actually killed, but boy was it bizarre. In fact it seems remarkable that Mr. Jamison grew up at all, let alone sane enough to put enough sentences together to write a book like this. Then when you find the humor and understanding that he brings to the book and you have to realize that almost regardless of what you do to them kids seem to shake it off and grow up.

The story is delightful (so long as you didn't have to live it). This is what happened to the true hippies who never became part of society. Or as viewed from the standpoint of the author realizing that everyone in your family is a lunatic. To summarize: Dad's dropped out, working sucks and he isn't going to do it any more; Mom is a Mormon whose main goal is to get her children into heaven; sis is trying to kill him. They are all nuts, but as it is described, they're nuts in a delightful way.

Highly amusing read.

Oregon
Trojan women (The Plays of Euripides)
Published in Unknown Binding by Oregon Shakespeare Festival (2000)
Author: Euripides
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Highly recommended for anyone studying Euripides.
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2000-05-09
Nicholas Rudall's Euripides' The Trojan Women: Plays For Performance provides a new translation of a literary classic of pathos and war, capturing the classical drama in a new form designed as a play for performing to modern audiences. An outstanding literary work Euripides' The Trojan Women is highly recommended for any studying Euripides.

Diane C. Donovan Reviewer

The Saddest of the Poets
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2004-05-17
Edith Hamilton, in The Greek Way, says that "Euripides is the saddest of the poets" and that "no poet's ear has ever been so sensitively attuned as his to the still, sad music of humanity." The Trojan Women, a heart-rending read, certainly supports these opinions.

Written in Athens in 415 B.C. in the throes of the ruinous Peloponnesian War, the play was a condemnatory response to the recent Athenian atrocities against the neutral Greek island of Melos. After taking the island, the Athenians executed all the men and enslaved the women and children. It was an end of innocence of sorts for the city that had long considered itself the world's citadel of what we now call civilization and culture. In criticizing it, Euripides reached back to the central event of the Greek epic heritage, the legendary victory over Troy, for his setting and characters.

The resulting tragedy opens in the aftermath of the slaughter of the Trojan men, with Troy in flames and the women being divvied up as slaves to the conquering Greeks. Euripides is unflinching in his depiction of the inhumanities visited upon the vanquished. King Priam's daughter, Cassandra, is raped by Agamemnon, king of the Greeks. His other daughter Polyxena is cruelly murdered. In one of the most moving scenes in all of literature, his grandson Astyanax, a young child and the only surviving heir to the Trojan throne, is taken from his mother Andromache's grieving embrace and thrown to his death from the highest wall of the city. In fact, the only pity and decency presented among the Greeks is found in the Greek messenger Talthybius, who cleans the body of Astyanax and brings it to his grandmother Hecuba after Andromache's pleading to bury him is denied as she is taken away to her fate as a Greek slave.

Many have read this work as a blanket indictment of war. I read it as a misanthropic perspective on human nature, with its glimmers of what we call humanity intersticed between the harsh reality of our cruelty, hatred and violence, a reality set free within the lawless terrain of war. Those with a rosy view of our genetic inheritance should generally be given fair warning before engaging the works of Euripides, and The Trojan Women is no different. That said, whatever one's views of our species, this is one of its finer artifacts and it deserves a wide reading despite the passage of over 2,400 years.

A powerful, contemporary re-presentation of war's effects
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 1999-04-23
Having seen a staged production of this text at the Shakespeare Theater in Washington, DC, I am looking forward to reading the text in detail. In the theater, this was a powerful, painful confrontation of the effects of war on the victims -- the women and children. No heroes, no vainglorious praise of war. Just the horrors of surviving and loss. Troy becomes every war-devastated landscape. The parallels to Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, etc., etc. were not to be denied.

Rudell is able to bridge the centuries and make Troy contemporary. The language is both elevated (in the style of classic tragedy) and immediate in its emotional impact.

The great anti-war tragedy by Euripides
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2002-03-21
About 416 B.C. the island of Melos refused to aid Athens in the war against Sparta. The Athenians then slaughtered the men and enslaved the women and children, an atrocity never before inflicted on one Greek city-state by another. As preparations were made for the ruinous expedition against Syracuse, Euripides wrote "The Trojan Women," as a plea for peace. Consequently there is a strong rhetorical dimension to the play, which prophesies that a Greek force would sail across the sea after violating victims and meet with disaster. However, there the play also has a strong literary consideration in that the four Trojan Women--Hecuba, Queen of Troy; Cassandra, daughter of Hecuba and Priestess of Apollo; Andromache, widow of Hector; and Helen--all appear in the final chapter of Homer's epic poem the "Iliad," mourning over the corpse of Hector, retrieved by his father Priam from the camp of the Acheans. Whenever I have use "The Trojan Women" in class I have always used at least that last chapter of Homer to set up the play.

As with his last play "Iphigenia at Aulis," which tells of the events right before the Achean army left for Troy, "The Trojan Women" reflects the cynicism of Euripides. Of all the Achean leaders we hear about in Homer, only Menelaus, husband of Helen, appears. He appears, ready to slay Helen for having abandoned him to run off to Troy with Paris, but we see his anger melt before her beauty and soothing tones. In this play the Greeks do more than enslave women: they have already slain a young girl as a sacrifice to the ghost of Achilles and they take Astyanax, the son of Hector, out of the arms of his mother so that he can be thrown from the walls of Troy. Even the herald of the Greeks, Talthybius, cannot stomach the policies of his people. The play also reminds us that Helen was a most unpopular figure amongst the ancient Greeks, and there is no satisfaction in her saving her life (Note: you might want to check out Isocrates's "Encomium on Helen," an exhibition speech in which he shows off his talent by defending the hated woman). The idea that all of these men died just so that she could be returned to the side of her husband is an utter mockery of the dead. This translation by Nicholas Rudall focuses on the performance of "The Trojan Women," but it is certainly useful for those interested in the historical or literary aspects of the play as well. Another interesting analogy is to use this play in conjunction with "Lysistrata" by Aristophanes, so that students can compare and contrast an anti-war comedy and drama.


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