Western Oregon University Books

Written in a "natural" fashion, this book is part of American history from a most objective point of view. It's amazing how Perlot was able to record his adventures in vivid detail.

First-hand accounts of this time and place are very scarce...beside being rich in detail and easy to read, I have another reason for recommending this book. This summer I presented to Yosemite visitors (as a naturalist volunteer) a program on the Miwok of the Wawona (Yosemite National Park) and how nature shaped their culture. Perlot's journal on how he cam e to understand the Indians and appreciate their skills was so suited to what I was tring to convey, that for my visitors appreciation, I read a paragraph or two to them. A "thank you" to the Indians of this park who guided me.

Excellent review of my Great Great Grandfather's 20 years in America after leaving first Belgium and then Paris to seek his fortune with a company that upon arrival in Monterey, California was bankrupt. Being a self starter and not one to give up easily; he headed off to the gold fields on his own gathering other people as he went along. He gives an excellent account of the hardships and heartache suffered by not only himself but others who found themselves so far from home. It was either charge forward or give up and go to wherever it was you could afford to travel. It shows his compassion for his fellow man and also his ability to get along with the Indians and adapt to whatever the world threw at him You have to be proud of a guy like that. Eventually he married a cousin and brought her to the U.S. to live in Portland, Oregon but eventually they returned to Belgium where he whiled away his last years enjoying life and most probably thinking about the wonderful and exiting years of taking each day as it came; solving lifes problems and standing up for what he believed in; occasionally backing that up with his pistol and rifle. This is not a shoot em up story or anything of the sort; however, it does reflect what it was like to be on your own in a very difficult environment and time when only the strongest survived. Naturally, I am biased since the old fellow blazed a trail for the rest of us Perlot's----of which there are but a few.

Banning Eyre has obviously spent a great deal of time loving and learning the music and culture of Mali. His book takes you straight to the heart of what the people and their music are all about. Effortlessly, he guides you on an excursion to this unique land. You'll taste the food, feel the heat and hear the music! In fact, you can hear the music in the companion CD. I love both the book and the CD!

"In Griot Time" is a MAJOR travel literature event! Readers of V. S. Naipaul's travel nonfiction will delight in this new book written by a former student of Naipaul, Banning Eyre of National Public Radio and Boston Phoenix fame. This astonishingly good book rivals and even surpasses Naipaul in the very areas Naipaul excels. Eyre's writing recalls Naipaul's best, with a fresh new vibrance, mature with a quiet, intelligent masculinity, reflecting Eyre's years of magazine and newspaper work. The Canadian Eyre masterfully takes the best of his teacher's legacy, then expands it, using his relative youth and considerable musical and literary skills to show us a fascinating view of travel and Malian culture not just as a writer, as an outsider, but also as a working musician and student of Malian styles, a view requiring a stamina and persona more reminiscent of Hemingway than Naipaul. Eyre is truly an exciting and important new voice in travel literature. NOT TO BE MISSED. I've read and loved all of Naipaul's books--and "In Griot Time" is even better if such a thing is possible! Thank you, Banning Eyre! [Note: I'm an old friend of the author, and have read his writing from his early teenage days on. He was good to begin with, and I've watched him get better and better over the years. I'm also a long-time fan of V.S. Naipaul's works and consider him one of the great masters of 20th-century literature. Imagine my utter joy when I read "In Griot Time," and found Eyre has grown into everything Naipaul is and more! Now I can say "I knew him when..." :)]

Due to the low profile of African music in the States, this subject matter is so esoteric that any work on the subject would certainly be welcome. But thankfully, this is the work of a seasoned music journalist, whose charisma opens nearly every possible door to the life of Mali's great musicians. The book starts as Eyre shows up unannounced to meet Djelimady Tounkara, perhaps Mali's greatest living griot artists. As Eyre is taken under Djelimady's wing as an understudy, he finds opportunities to meet other great and colorful elements in Mali's music world, including a musician who shunned his royal upbringing to a humble music life (Salif Keita), and a mysterious millionaire patron of the arts who worked his way up from humble roots (Babani Sissoko).

Throughout his study, Eyre remains humble, admitting that there is a whole host of young musicians in Mali half his age more advanced than he in this study. At one point he likens studying with Djelimady to "reaching into a rushing stream of water hoping to pull out a fish before it slithered away forever." Though Eyre is upfront about his preference to study music "stripped of its context," he doesn't skimp on highlighting the importance of politics, religion, and history surrounding the music.

His approach to viewing Africa is refreshing; where international aid workers "looked around and saw sickness and suffering, good people held down by backwardness... I looked around and saw a cultural lodestone, musical diamonds and gold everywhere. I wanted the Malians to give me the hard lessons." It's hard not to agree with Eyre's perception of Mali's musical greatness; in fact, in the `60s and `70s, the government mandated that the bands they subsidized all maintain deep roots to Malian tradition- unlike many other African countries, whose musical identities have been whitewashed by Western influences.

Of course I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in studying African music, but it should also be compelling for anyone interested in a "cultural exchange" with the remote and exotic city of Bamako, Mali, which happens to not be all that far from Timbuktu.

This book makes important and original contributions to the understanding of Gender and Generation on the Far Western Frontier. It teaches valuable lessons for today's Americans. I am reading this as a gradutate student of history at the University of North Dakota. It is informative and rich in detail as any textbook with footnotes, but surprisingly easy to read and understand. (Unlike too many post-graduate dissertations.)

(Full Disclosure: I am a student of Dr. Prescott's.)

I heartily recommend this easy-to-read-and-follow work in the areas of western history (with real women included and portrayed) and for anyone ready to advance beyond 'hollywood history' of the American Northwest.

Buy this book to read, learn and enjoy!

Dr. Prescott offers an insightful look at first and second generation settlers in Oregon's Willamette Valley during the mid-to-late 19th century. Dr. Prescott contends that favorable farming conditions in addition to generous land grants made it possible for women as well as men to progress very quickly from frontier farming roles to a more consumer-oriented middle class way of life. Using the diaries of Maria Locey, the quilts of Zeralda Carpenter Bones Stone, and many other sources, Dr. Prescott presents a very readable glimpse of pioneer life in Oregon.

I am very impressed with this new release of Mary Walker's Diary. I am a direct decendant of Mary and Elkanah Walker and am very proud that there is such a wonderful book with her's and Myra Eells' diary entries. It gives us a view of how women's lives were, how people's views about the Native Americans were at that time, and shows us the hardships of pioneer life. I want to thank the authors for keeping this piece of history alive.

Carrie Walker

These diaries of Mary Walker and Myra Eells bring to life the early day pioneer struggles to maintain survival and sanity during the years 1838-1848. Being recently married wives of missionaries, both Walker and Eells maintained excellent daily diaries of their arduous overland journey from Missouri to Washington. In company with two other missionary wives (Gray and Smith), they were the second group of women to cross the continent. These overland diaries are an entrancement to read, depicting day to day life along the Oregon Trail while riding side-saddle for 1900 miles. Mrs. Walker was oftentimes dismayed over both the long journey and the uncertain and questionable love of her husband (she was also pregnant during this journey).
Once in Washington, they all spent the winter of 1838-39 at the Whitman mission. Conditions were somewhat crowded that first winter, therefore human feelings and emotions ran rampant (even amongst missionaries).
Mary Walker then continues her diaries for the next ten years. They had their own mission to build and manage at Tshimakain whilst bringing salvation (attempting to) to the Spokane Indians. Mary had six children while living at their mission. With so many children to look after, along with cooking, cleaning, making clothes, tending livestock and the garden, etc., it was a full life. So full in fact, she oftentimes was despondent of her purpose in life regarding the mission and raising her children. The book ends shortly after the tragic Whitman massacre of 1847 when they then moved to the Williamette valley of Oregon.
At times the book can become somewhat overbearing due to the multitude of footnotes, but still a truthful look at pioneering so long ago.

This is the best PNW plant and animal identification book on the market (and I have lot of such i.d. books). Lots of really good color pictures and detailed b/w's. Informative text on life history/cycles. Good index and well-organized. Great for helping children get going on school projects (the Latin names are there, but the text is plain English, flows well, and provides information that interests ordinary persons of all ages who enjoy the out-of-doors). Would make a nice gift for someone new to the area or otherwise interested in the topic.

I fell in love with wild plants at the tender age of 11 when I went to camp with my 5th grade class. We did plant identification and I became intrigued by all the wonderful plants in the NW. WHen I got home I poured through my mom's copy of this book. I had been seeing it on our coffee table since I was like a tot! I fell in love with plants. This book has beautiful color pics of all kinds of wonderful plants and animals. It's awesome!

This is an amazing work, several times larger and more complete than the 1975 edition. The text can be appreciated at many levels, from the amateur to professional. Keys to the major groups, but also descriptions of life histories and behavior. Many beautiful line drawings and some photographs. Worth much more than the price.

The intro gives a little history of the author and about what he wrote. The story was interesting to me because I like reading about agricultural communities in Oregon. It takes place in the 1930's when it was written so you get a feel of what life was like then. I usually read non fiction but really enjoyed the story.

Wow, what a great gift for my Duck friend and true sports buff!! It's not just another sports expose', but a very comprehensive compilation of Oregon football and sports memories. He loves it and that is just what I expected.

Good read for those interested in how their ancestors ate -- especially if it is known one of them was among those who went west using this paticular route. Highly recommended.

After living in the West for four years there were two things I could count on above all else. First, the issue of water in the West. It is a given that everyone, and I mean everyone, has a strong opinion on water, or more aptly, the lack thereof, and what to do about it. Second, the consistently high quality of a publication known as the High Country News which is published in Paonia, Colorado. Thus, you can imagine my delight in receiving a copy of this book dealing with Water in the West and containing articles written by contributors to High Country News over the past fifteen years. It's kind of like getting a two-for-one deal. And what a deal it is. For anyone remotely interested in the history and current status of what editor Char Miller rightly calls the West's most precious resource, water, this book is indispensable reading. The list of contributing scholars and journalist is impressive and provides the reader with insightful analysis and historical context that is rare in this age of mass-produced trivia. My favorite chapter is titled "Taming Glen Canyon Dam" and contains an article on how, in 1993, the Colorado river almost reclaimed Glen Canyon Dam and accomplished what Edward Abbey and a host of activists have struggled to do since 1963. The entire contentious issue of Glen Canyon Dam is covered in a balanced manner and worthy of the reader's time. Ah, but there is more, much more. Come go with me to visit the Northwest and read of the Salmon Crisis; the proposal to tear down eighteen dams; and a plan to unleash the Snake River. From there we will travel to Arizona and Utah to learn of the follies and successes of the Central Arizona and Central Utah Projects. These Federal water projects are your tax dollars at work. From the deserts of Arizona and Utah we will go to Denver and Las Vegas and see what the urban areas of the west have in mind for the limited amount of water available. The chapter on Native American Water Issues is refreshing in that, for once, we learn that the Indians have won some court battles that have the effect of giving them back that which was, you guessed it, taken from them in the first place. Take all of this and wrap it up with chapters on Watershed Restoration and Water Allocation and Management, plus a comprehensive introductorly overview, and you have a wonderful primer on Water in the West. This book is one tall drink of water. Oregon State University Press and High Country News are to be commended for making it available to all of those that care about this precious resource.