Washington University Books

Joann Roe has written a wonderful biography and book on some great History. Ranald MacDonald comes to life and the history his actions affected is explained in great detail. Joann Roe has done her homework. She not only uses original sources but she visited the places she describes. Where material from Ranald's life doesn't exist she fills in the blanks with others views and explains the surrounding history. She starts with Ranald being born in the now present day Astoria, Oregon. His father is a rising star and eventual Chief Factor in the Hudson's Bay Company and Mother is Princess Raven, a daughter of the local Chief Conconlly of the Chinook tribe. He is given a gentleman's education and his first job as a bank clerk. He is bored with this and runs away to sea. From there he joins a whaler and starts his trek around the world. He becomes one of the first Americans to set foot on Japan and teach English while held in captivity and run down the whole country before being released. Then he ends up in Australia for a while looking for gold. Then from there more ships and a couple of ship wrecks while globetrotting. Eventually he ends up back in western Canada and is greatly involved in the Gold rush around the Fraser River and exploration of Vancouver Island. His last days are spent in Eastern Washington near the site of the old Hudson's Bay Company Fort Colville on a ranch near some cousins and a niece. He led an amazing life and has an amazing story that more should know.

Jo Ann Roe has written a magnificent book, adding considerable information and insight on Ranald MacDonald. In addition to the biographical content, she added valuable scope by describing and explaining the context, for instance the Japanese forces at play at the time of MacDonald's arrival, the gold rush in Australia and British Columbia, etc. Thanks to her lively style, Ranald MacDonald becomes very present to the reader. It is a remarkable historical research.

This is a highly readable and engaging book on the topic, covering the history of abortion laws from early 1800s to the Clinton years. To explain the legal shifts throughout those 200 years, the authors describe the social, political, religious and scientific forces that have lead up to each turning point, and how those shifts in turn have influenced further shifts in a seemingly never ending chain. They do so by presenting the various sides of the debate in an even-handed and concise manner, without losing depth on the one hand and without getting bogged down with technicalities on the other. What I found of particular interest was the behind-the-scenes debates of the Justices both in Griswold v. Connecticut and in Roe v. Wade that shed light on their final decision.

One of many controversial Supreme court cases in the United States is the case of Roe v Wade. Norma McCourvey was a 23 year old pregnant divorced women. Norma took on the name of Jane Roe to secure her identity infont of the public. Roe lived in the state of Texas. She wanted to terminate her pregnancy the only obstacle was that with in the state of Texas a women was not allowed to have an abortion unless her life depended on it.Roe was pregnant from an affair she had which caused her marriage to fail. Roe took the case to the Supreme court alleging that her rights were being violated and that under the amendments 1,4 9 and 14 she had a choice. The attorneys who would carry on this case were two young women named Sarh Weddington adn Linda Coffee. Both had recently graduated from the University of Texas. Sarah at the time was also pregnant,but would go on and have the child. Attorney Henry Wade was force with the decision to allow Norma nad other women to have an abortion. Two years after the case was presented the court decided that in fact a womens right to choose on what to do with her body was hers and nobody else.
I would reccomend this book to everyone who is interested in politics. Due to the fact that no matter how someone feels towards a certain topic you may never know what your decision might be. I might one day become a lawyer and reading this book opened my eyes ;to realize that I can not allow my morals and beliefs to get in the way of my profession. I would also reccomend this book to anyone who has strong feelings on whether abortion should be legal or not. Finally I just enjoyed this book because although abortion is a very controversial topic it is also one a very easy book to read and comprehend.

Santa Fe will be 400 years old next year, and this beautifully illustrated and written book was issued in commemoration of its rich history.

There are eleven chapters, nine dealing with various historical eras in the city's history: high desert living before the formation of the city, the founding, the Pueblo Revolt, the Spanish Restoration, 25 years as a Mexican town, the U.S. occupation, the Santa Fe Trail, the Palace of Governors and a history of histories of the city. Each chapter is written by a recognized expert in the area, and each is illustrated with many black and white images.

Two chapters were particularly interesting to me. "Españols, Castas, y Labradores" by Adrian H. Bustamante is a very careful analysis of the the complex mixing and cross mixing of different ethnic backgrounds. "One's social position was determined by the degree of pureza de sangre española that flowed in one's veins. To have been born in Spain, especially in Castile, gave one the highest classification possible -- penninsular." Pure españoles who had been born in the New World had the marginally lower status of Criollos (Creoles)." The book lists on page 54 (you may be able to retrieve a copy through the Amazon Search this Book function) 22 separate "castas" typical of the 18th century: mestizo, castizo, otrna a español, mulato, morisco, etc.

Tara M. Plewa's "Acequia Agriculture" is a beautifully written, fact laden discussion of water, irrigation and their defining roles in Santa Fe's history. "Long established Spanish irrigation methods translated well to the dry landscape. The practice of irrigation necessitated establishing rules so that benefits were divided equitably among users. As I. G. Clark has written in his insightful book, Water in New Mexico: A History of Its Management and Use, Spaniards had centuries before learned irrigation techniques from the Romans and, later, Islamic water law from the Moors. It was the Prophet Mohammed who had taught about the law of thirst, which grants living things free access to all waters to satisfy their needs. ... These ideas, established more than one thousand years ago, form the foundations of contemporary water laws followed in the western United States today." Plewa illustrated her essay with a number of maps, pictures and charts, perhaps the most interesting two photographs of the Acequia Madre from 1890 and 2007, respectively -- the principles of Mohammed in practice many hundreds of years after his death.

The publisher offers a very generous extract from the book at sarpress.sarweb.org , focusing on the archeological studies of the city.

Two weeks ago I asked the owner of Collected Works, a great bookstore in Santa Fe for the "essential" books needed to understand Santa Fe. Her list: New Mexico: An Interpretive History by Marc Simmons; Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya; The Wind Leaves No Shadow by Ruth Laughlin; The House at Otowi Bridge: The Story of Edith Warner and Los Alamos by Peggy Pond Church; and Santa Fe, History of an Ancient City: Revised and Expanded Edition edited by David Grant Noble.

This wonderful volume is a perfect introduction of this complex, endlessly fascinating city.

Robert C. Ross 2008

The chapter edited by Tara Plewa remains one of the most enlightened discourses on the Santa Fe River that I have ever read. Plewa is a brilliant writer, with a knack for detailing this area and its history is an unparalleled manner... this one is not to be missed, and be on the lookout for anything that Plewa writes!

Walt Crowley and his gang at historylink.org provide a valuable service to anyone interested in the history of Seattle, King County, and western Washington generally. While this book is necessarily less comprehensive (and less easily searched and updated) than the online version, it's still an interesting and informative browse-through for Emerald City residents and a good introduction to the greater wealth on their web site.

This small title's pages are packed with colorful illustrations and punchy copy. It probably works better to open and read it at random than to try to follow it systematically from page to page, because while it's basically organized chronologically, there are so many sections, subheads, and sidebars -- plus the timeline itself on nearly every page -- that trying to keep it all straight could get maddening. It's much more fun simply to open a page and read about why Seattle's streets aren't aligned north and south of Yesler Way, what happened to the communities known as Squack and Slaughter (they're still here, under different names) and why there were as many arguments about light rail 50 years ago as there are today.

On the whole, any Washington resident with an interest in this city would probably find something entertaining or worthwhile to justify browsing this title. Gene Logsdon writes that one of the ways to avoid provincialism is to know your own province really well. This book is one useful way for Seattleites to do that.

(...)This compact volume is chock full of interesting information, some of which has never appeared in other histories of Seattle. It is readable, very attractive, and includes mention of the September 11 attacks and other recent events.

Some of the new stories include Pioneer Henry Yesler's Native American family, the early smallpox epidemics that decimated the local tribes, the last several decades of the 20th Century, Ivar Haglund, and the arrival of the Buffalo Soldiers.

I'm buying several as gifts.

I felt that Christina Ching wrote this book for me. She speaks to me in my mother's voice, telling me about the insurmountable obstacles she had to overcome to pave the way for me. I used to think of Chinese women of Ching's generation as old-fashioned and oppressed, but after reading her memoir, I realize what a giant leap they have made, and how much I owe them. This is a universal story of the emancipation of a group of people, in this case, Chinese women. From tiny, timid steps, Ching took bigger and bolder steps until she was unstoppable. Yet while living out her ambitions, she was also a devoted mother and wife. Her life offers many important lessons for younger women. The memoir moves at the page-turning pace of a thriller, but I can't help stopping frequently to savor the beauty of her words.

Veronica Li, Washington, DC, USA

This magnificent memoir is the first I have read that faithfully chronicles the love story of a 20th century Chinese woman with the idea of modernity. Many writers before Mrs. Ching-Tsao have tackled the gray and dismal role of women in traditional China, the horrors of the early and mid-20th century and equal tragedy of women under the Cultural Revolution, when supposedly they "held up half the sky." This account is more nuanced, more hopeful, and much more representative of the energy, dynamism and drive not just of Chinese women but all women entranced by the jazz age and the promise of equality. Mrs. Ching-Tsao's account is wonderful for its detail and its honesty, as well as the marvelous balance of her personality, whether she is unexpectedly charmed by her father's concubine or unexpectedly loyal to a man who has used rape to force her into marriage. This is an unusual woman who falls into no easy definition or category, as wife, mother, professional woman, or lover. She is simply herself, a Chinese Colette, charming, self-willed and compassionate. The book is beautifully written and paced, although as literature it has more the quality of a very good translation than a book that is fully comfortable in the boundaries of English, but that is to be expected from an author whose first encounter with English was as a teenager in a prep school in Shanghai. In the interest of full disclosure, I have known Mrs. Ching-Tsao's sons and daughters for many years, but was in no way prepared for the richness and depth of their mother's book.

Edith Terry, Hong Kong

I was pleasantly surprised to find that this quality dictionary also includes an extensive Tsimshian reference grammar (80 pages long)! Very, very useful given the grammatical complexity of the language. There is no English-Sm'algyax dictionary, but there is an easy-to-use index that directs you to the pages in the Sm'algyax-English section covering each English word. A good find.

The pronunciations are tough to learn for those of us who aren't linguists. I use this to try to remember words I learned as a kid growing up in Metlakatla, AK and also to learn new words. It's priceless to have as a reference but requires a whole lot of worthwhile effort.

I recently went to Southwest Museum and Autry National Center and their shops are still selling this book at cover price!!! It's an amazing book and reflects the rich collections of the museum!

This is a great book and resource for anyone interested in textiles, weaving, or Native American history. I called the Southwest Museum shop in California and was told that they still have copies of this book and it's at a cheaper price than what's listed here. I believe they can ship as well.

An excellent summary of the various types of structures used in Washington bridges down through the years. Specific locations and history given for each major bridge. Not a structural engineering text, but should be read by any northwest civil engineering type.

I've got to say that the first thing that came to mind when I saw this book on Washington's Bridges was the famous 'Galloping Gertie' bridge at Tacoma Narrows that fell down. Then I thought of the floating bridges that the folk at the Department of Transportation seem to like. I would have been disappointed if these bridges hadn't been included in this book. But they were, along with a bunch of other bridges that have failed also. One failed when a herd of sheep crossed it. Another when fireworks set it on fire. Earthquakes and the eruption of Mt. St. Helens caused more to fail. Then there was the one where a forty ton logging truck attempted to cross a bridge designed for a five ton load.

But enough about failed bridges. This is really a book on the hundreds of other bridges around the State of Washington. Some of these are magnificant structures. A lot are surprisingly different, one bridge for instance that was bought war surplus. And I didn't realize that there were still three wooden covered bridges in the state.

This is mostly a picture book, with just enough technical description as to the types of bridges to make it even more interesting. A lot of these bridges would make a good weekend excursion trip to go see. If you're interested in this sort of thing, this is a most interesting book. It's one that I intend to take along on vacations to tell us a bit about where we are going.

A unique collection of native American masks who's beauty is breath taking. The amazing pictures contained here show in great detail the talent of those who created them. Each mask has a description of its use and they are shown in all their glory - each one has been re-created using traditional methods so that you get to see them as they were intened to be seen. Invaluable!

This book has beautiful photography and a striking diversity of masks. I wanted to buy this book after visiting a native history museum in Anchorage, AK. They had this book available as a reference with their collection of native masks. As an artist, I find the masks truly inspiring and this book gives lots of great examples!

I am a graduate student at WSU in Pullman. This text is an excellent resource for those wishing to deepen their understanding and appreciation for Northwest Native American culture. The accompanying CD is the only one that I could locate which has authentic Northwest tribal music; most Native American music available through retail outlets today are the melodic flute tunes of Southwestern tribes.

Book includes information on instruments, dance regalia, as well as histories about musical traditions.

Tribes included in the CD include the Makah, Quileute, Yakama, Chinook, Skokomish, Tulalip, Lummi, Okanogan, Spokane, Nez Perce, Umatilla, and Colville.
I would recommend this book to anyone!

Native American Music Traditions of Washington State. This book & accompanying compact disk offer a rare glimpse into the NorthWest Native American's sacred traditions of song & dance.

Arising from a unique exhibit & live performance at the Northwest Folklife Festival, Spirit of the First People is a collection of personal narratives, stories & essays on the music of the First People in the region that now encampasses Washington State. From tribe to tribe & reservation to reservation across the state, a wide range of musical genres & individual styles have developed, including social dance songs, game songs & hymns.

It takes time to re-tune our ears from listening to the artificial & steroidal music we're used to. Listening to both the CD & reading the stories is like hearing the thunder in a gorge, a hawk on the wind, snow-muffled footsteps, water rushing to the sea. The voices of the People of the Earth whose ears have heard its heartbeats & remember the stories.

Tucked into the many memories of boarding school, singing the songs to life, berry gathering & potlatches is a gallery of exquisite black & white archival photos as well has full color ones of today's families, ceremonial regalia & drums.

A rare treat & an inspired gift for someone you know who favors music of a First People. A treasure! For my full review do check out: [my website].