Oregon Books

Sorry. The title of this review is a little misleading. A.J.Splawn was one of the Pacific Northwest's best known and successful settlers. This book, first published in 1917 is an accurate accounting of Indian relations, both before and after the Treaty of 1855. Splawn documents over 50 years of raising cattle and living among Native Americans, chiefly those tribes in Eastern Oregon, Eastern Washington and Western Idaho. I have the 2nd edition, published in 1944, which incorporates Mr. Splawn's previously unpublished notes. The book is written in a modern hand. More than just a portrait of the great chief Kamiakin, it is a portal into a time when great schools of salmon still ran the Yakima and Naches Rivers, and Native Americans roamed freely throughout the basalt canyons and Ponderosa Pine hills of the Yakima Territory.

Linda Lappin has brought off, first, a moving fiction about desire. Her Katherine Mansfield -- yes, the great storyteller, one of the only writers Virginia Woolf claimed to envy, who lived most of her short life in England and died of tuberculosis (and a turbulent heart) in 1923 -- this reimagined Mansfield is on a quest with which anyone can identify. She's an ardent lover seeking same, and seeking more as well, and she achieves an ambivalent triumph, now here, now gone, and never quite what she thought she was after. The novel vividly renders the bewildering rush of its heroine's declining years, a time of paradoxical flailing and accomplishment. It begins in the devastated final months of World War I, in a southern France on strict rations and stripped of healthy men, then moves through the writer's marriage, her late successes, and her commitment to the cult of the Russian mystic Gurdjieff, and in the process Lappin also brings to life a number of the literary sensibilities of the Bloomsbury circle, including Woolf and D.H. Lawrence. Through it all, Mansfield emerges ever more powerfully: a sensation, a tragedy, and a tempest of yearning.

When Pam Livingston, Chuck Ovens and Nora Ryan lured historian Paul Fischer to Jacksonville, Oregon, he thought they wanted him to write a biography of Doctor Hollingsworth. Instead, the trio hoped that Paul would find proof that Pam was Kate Baker's granddaughter and heir to a vast fortune. Although Paul found the proof, he never gave it to them.

Although Paul thought he whole incident was in the past, it reopens when his home, office and garage are broken into and the only thing missing is the research on the Walker sisters. When Paul receives a call from Pam informing him that somebody beat Nora up, he flies to Jacksonville to find out what is going on. After Chuck is murdered and the killer visits Nora two more times. Pam and Paul go through the estate records and learn about a large sum of money that has not been found. Before the killer strikes again, Paul and Pam are determined to find the money and end the nightmare they are living.

KATIE'S GOLD is an exciting amateur sleuth tale but it is the antagonist who captures and holds the reader's attention. The killer is so single minded and determined, that he will use whatever means necessary, including murder to get what he wants. The audience will like reading about a woman who made her will so airtight that ever the lawyers can't find a loophole. Pam has grown since her last appearance (KATIE'S WILL) and the audience will find her more approachable and likable. Paul is a mench that is impossible to dislike and KATIE'S GOLD is a novel that is good, if not better, than it's prequel.

Harriet Klausner

In Keeping The Spirit Alive, Bonnie Kahn and Mary Schlick effectively collaborate to showcase an impressive array of Native American artistry and craftsmanship using items found in the collection of Dr. and Mrs. Robert B. Pamlin, Jr. Color photography of clothing, domestic items, personal adornments, and articles used for battle are all augmented by informative captions. More than ninety items are included and document the continuity of Native American artistry over the past two hundred years down to the present day. Keeping The Spirit Alive is a unique and highly recommended addition to any personal or academic Native American studies and art history collections.

The 6th edition of this work was actually written by: JANAY ANN HAAS, a member of the Oregon and California Bar Associations. Ms. Haas is a practicing attorney, specializing in landlord tenant law, housing discrimination and legal services programs.

MICHAEL MARCUS is the author of earlier editions.

Happy reading!

"Lebanese Amber: The Oldest Insect Ecosystem in Fossilized Resin" written by George O. Poinar,Jr. and Raif K. Milki is a very well appointed book with color photos of insects, spores and other fauna and flora entomed in resin from towering kauri pines, (which only exist in the Australasian region of the southern hemisphere today), in prehistoric Lebanon some 135 million years ago. The Early Cretaceous is the time of the dinosaurs.

Amber is known for preserving fossils in life-like condition, because they were not subjected to compression that all too commonly affects most soft-bodied organisms that enter the prehistoric record. This is what "Jurassic Park" is based upon, a biting insect with dinosaur DNA in its digestive tract.

In "Lebanese Amber: The Oldest Insect Ecosystem in Fossilized Resin" we see indicated well-illustrated appearances of many insect groups. There are very good descriptions of individual fossils and there is added material documented by photographs. There is also provided background information on geology and occurences of Lebanese amber and a comprehensive section on other types of resins and gums found in the Near East that might be confused with true amber. The book is a review of all the organisms thus far reported from Lebanese amber.

I found this book to be very helpful in recognizing true Lebanese amber from Near Eastern resins, copals, and gums and is very helpful with the indentification of insect inclusions amber samples. I gave this book a solid 5 stars for it is a book you'll want as a reference.

I would highly recommnend this book to anyone interested in the environment, but more importantly, anyone interested in the idea of "saving" the environment. Ashworth very nobly explores man's vision of what "nature" should be and what conservation should mean. Through his own experiences and wisdom, he deftly tells it like it is and though this may seem a turnoff to many, he doesn't aggravate or annoy the reader. I read this book in several hours, and wished there had been more. Ashworth is a keen observer of nature and anyone who feels that nature is worth saving should read this book.

An historical novel set in the Pacific Northwest where the Willamette and Columbia rivers meet, Donald and Marilyn Bruner's The Legend Of Wappato: Chief Cassino Of The Multnomah is the story of Native American and white cultures colliding against each other in the opening decades of the 1800s. Chief Cassino had consolidated several tribes to face the intruding threats of white fur traders and settlers when in 1824, John McLoughlin set up the Hudson's Bay Company trading post at Fort George and then another one at Fort Vancouver. Chief Cassino and McLoughlin became friends and worked together to control conflict during the settlement of the Oregon Territory. But in the winter of 1830 an epidemic swept through the native villages. The result was the near extinction of a once great Multnomah tribe from the Wappato lands. Chief Cassino survived and continued to be friends with McLoughlin for the rest of their lives. The Legend Of Wappato is superbly crafted, historically astute, and highly recommended reading.

The incredible history of the Oregon legislature emerges from this book. Readers learn of the early legislative bodies during Oregon's territorial days and the bitter partisan battles over issues such as slavery and citizenship to racial minorities. We learn of some of the important and often amusing political characters through Oregon's legislative history as well as the effects of such measures as the poll tax and other taxes designed to harm members of racial minorities.
19th century political power in Oregon rested with business leaders representing railroads, utilities, and banks. Readers learn the interesting historical fact that Republican legislative votes were for $4,000 per legislator while Democratic legislative votes went for $3,000 per legislator. As Republicans occupied a higher scale of living, they cost more to bribe.
Still, legislative action was not a given. One entire legislative session ended without a single bill passed.
Some more recent Oregon legislative tales will amuse readers, such as the time an Oregon legislator dropped a bottle of liquid from a railroad effluent line and let the smell fill the House chambers. In another instance, a sleeping legislator had his shoe laces tied to his desk and then was called upon by the Speaker to arise from his desk.
People wishing to learn about life in a state legislature will enjoy this book. It is good to see some people capturing these pieces of history. If we can't learn from the past, we can at least enjoy it, as readers will from this book.

THIS BOOK IS ABOUT MY GREAT GREAT GREAT GRANDFATHER