Idaho Books

I loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone interested in escaping the rat race and solitude. I kept calling my friends to read passages to them--definitely a sign of a good book! Susan's great and she's done it

Because I have connections to the land that was the setting for the stories told in this book, it would be hard for me to be objective in reviewing this book.

I lived among the people whose recollections are included in this book and their descendants for two years, when I worked for the Forest Service out of Kingston, ID, but I did not learn about their colorful history until I read "North Fork of the Coeur d' Alene River."

The book is a collection of reminiscings by people whom I would classify as pioneers. They worked in the logging camps and on the rivers during log drives in the early 1900s. They were exposed to constant danger, and many of them lost their lives in logging accidents in the woods or by drowning in the river during log drives.

I hope you enjoy it, as I did.

The cover of this book caught my attention and once I glanced inside I was completely captivated. I purchased 4 copies. One for myself and one for each of our three children - to read to our eleven grandchildren. We live in Idaho but none of them do. What a wonderful way for them to learn about our state. Additionally, I placed a copy in my piano studio. It has been reviewed by numerous students and parents. All have been extremely impressed. The format allows one to enjoy the highlights with beautiful water color illustrations or read on for more in deptgh information.

This is nature, hard core. The line between Baker and his prey disappears during the year he spends with these birds. Magnificent, heart-stopping, sense-exploding writing. I read it slowly because it made me more observant of everything I miss when I rush. Makes you a better creature on the earth for reading it.

"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!

"Whenever Jim was writing about me, I felt that the story was being written by a friend. The thing I remember best was that he was always so kind to me in his writing. He was just a great big guy with an understanding heart." - HARMON KILLEBREW; HOME RUN HITTER, MEMBER OF THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME.

"An exceptional talent; a friendly, hospitable person, and a much better golfer that I am. I'm the world's worst golfer. JIm is the second worst." GOV. JOHN EVANS, POORE'S GOLF PARTNER

"I admire him tremendously. Jim covered B.S.U. sports since his cub days, and his work was always outstanding. His cleverness and his knowledge of sports were remarkabble." - LYLE SMITH, BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC DIRECTOR, 1947 - 1981

"Although his body wasn't beautiful, his mind and attitude were. He had a bright, active mind and sense of humor. He was a sensitive, gentle, unique person. My constant prayer is for him to wake up and for Jim to be Jim once more." - JERRY KRAMER; AUTHOR, MEMBER OF THE NFL HALL OF FAME

Jim Poore covered sports for the Idaho STatesman from 1969 until 1987 when he suffured a cerebral hemorrhage on Christmas Eve. As this book went to press, he was still in a coma. All proceeds from sales of the book helped pay the costs of his care.

Perhaps the most amazing this is that this structure, visible from the Pullman highway, cost less than one million dollars to build. What a bargain when one considers that this building does for the UI what three separate facilities do for WSU if one discounts the differences in the athletic conferences. This slim book details how Trus Joist Corp. of Boise, ID, coordinated engineers and contractors and built the largest indoor college facility in the nation using laminated veneer lumber and the TRUSDEK structural system developed by Trus Joist. Not only that, they did it within ten months after the bid was accepted, completing the project in time for the first home football game. The author, Peter T. Johnson, knows what he's writing about. He was once the CEO of Trus Joist and he writes: "I remember the day in 1974 when the University opened the sealed bids in Moscow, ID. That morning, having experienced many times the bid, award, construct cycle, I felt the customary anxiety that prevails between the offer and the acceptance phases, as one might await a marriage proposal." Of course the bid was awarded and thus begins the union. And like many marriages, there were some interesting dips in the road. Warping due to weather moisture and other causes was a major concern. Finally, the project was completed and dedicated on Oct. 11, 1975. Its name is officially the William H. Kibbe-ASUI Activity Center Dome. Kibbie is a former UI student and was a monetary contributor to the project. Once finished, the Kibbie Dome received recongition in the architecture and engineering fields world wide. Engineering News Record, Architectural Record, Forest Products Journal, Western Building Design, and other major magazines covered the building extensively. Articles about the structure were published in the Japanes and German languages. The project's most prestigious nod came when the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) awarded this impressive structure the ASCE Outstanding Structural Engineering Achievement Award for 1976 beating out a multi billion dollar mall project in New York State. In the last two decades plus, Palouse residents have come to take this awesome building for granted. "Raising the Roof" reminds us that great things can be accomplished with bold ingenuity and very little money, even in this 20th Century. I recommend this book to any and all architect students as well as those interested in local architectural history. Included are several beautiful photographs.

The U. S. government's differences, including investigations and Congressional hearings, with the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company in the early part of the 1900s brought together a long-standing guardedness toward Mormonism with antimonopoly efforts of the era. The company was founded by the leading Mormon Wilford Woodruff in 1890 who later related, "The inspiration of the Lord to me is to build this factory." The company based on growing, processing, and distributing sugar beets throughout the states of the Intermountain West was virtually a department of the Mormon Church, the Church of Latter-Day Saints.

While the survival--not to mention prosperity--of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, originally the Utah Sugar Company, was touch-and-go in its early years, eventually it thrived, and came to be seen as a monopoly by antitrust legislators. Because of the importance of sugar beets in the Western economy and as food staple, which increased in importance during scarcities in World War I, the Mormon company inevitably attracted a high-level of Federal government attention and concern.

Godfrey is an associate historian with a Montana historical research group. A shorter version of the material of "Religion, Politics, and Sugar" won an award from the Mormon History Association. The company's rise to success from its precarious beginnings while struggling against concerted government efforts to change it is followed with a judicious selection of factual material, including parts of transcripts and other documents, and concise narrative.

In 1923, the Federal Trade Commission issued its findings against the company. These were overturned by the Eighth Circuit Court in 1927. The Mormon owners and operators of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company saw their position as one of the members of the board of directors put it, "We were put to endless trouble and expense...for simply doing that which practically everybody else in the sugar business was doing." Despite its supposed monopolistic position in this industry, the company was able to survive from crashes in sugar prices coming in the 1920s and other economic troubles preceding the Depression only with financial aid from the U. S. government and the Church of Latter-Day Saints. The story of the sugar company during the years covers is of interest as well because of light it sheds on fundamental social, political, and economic changes in Utah and among the Mormons during this period. Godfrey focuses on how the actions of Mormon leaders of the company enabled it to succeed while at the same time become the target of Federal investigations.

A deeply religious Mormon family struggles with their son's homosexuality and subsequent death from Aids. The book traces the father's initial resistance to his ultimate acceptance, despite the conflict of organized religion. The book includes journals written by the son, reflecting his ambivalence and turmoil as his sexual orientation became more and more obvious. It is a sad book, as it would be in the tragic loss of a child, but in very important ways, it is a tribute to his life

A plethora of Hollywood stills and on-location photographs chronicle the story of the first Hollywood feature film made in Idaho--and the rcovery of the sole suriving print from Gosfilmofond, in Moscow, Russia. Amazon or you can obtain this book from The Book Store, 1910 University Drive, Boise, ID 83725 or by calling 1.800.992.8398 (toll free)!