Oregon Books

The people who undertook the journey across the great American prairie from points in Iowa and Missouri to the shining light of Oregon were a hardy and determined lot. Unfortunately, many were not hardy enough. The elements, diseases, lack of clean food and water, hostile natives and sometimes even buffalo stampedes all created hardship and death. This book is a collection of very short stories about people who made the trek.
While the stories are interesting, all are at most one page in length so there is no depth to any of the tales. This lack of depth turns what could have been a complete explanation of an event into a compressed vignette. The stories are good, but could have been much better with the expenditure of a little more ink on paper.

Although geared for a younger audience, I believe adults will enjoy reading this short, little book too. Each page of this 58 page booklet is a story in itself, describing the many perils and more blissful moments which the pioneers encountered along the Oregon Trail. A brief but entertaining and educational read for all ages.

Rugged outdoorsman Rick Steber has compiled 50 of his newspaper columns into a tidy collection for history buffs, simply entitled THE OREGON TRAIL. Just 58 pages, this little gem about westward migration contains facts gleaned from letters, journals and interviews of Oregon emigrants and their descendants.

Enchanced by excellent pen and ink sketches by Don Gray, this slim volume is crammed with historical data and real life anecdotes about dozens of brave pioneers, who took the northernmost route to the Pacifc between 1843 until after the Civil War. Such a wide time span provides a variety of Trail experiences.

This book is a must-read for elementary children studying westward migration, as well as for anyone contemplating a fictionalized tale about the Oregon Trail. This first volume in Steber's Wild West Series reads as swiftly as an Indian arrow; it includes highjinks and massacres, births and death, courtship and sacrifice. Steber presents it in an easy-to-digest format, as we delve into our past. This was a time of ego and intitiative; these tales emphasize the Human element. I would like to read others in the series, whose titles are: Pacific Coast, Indians, Cowboys, Women of the West, Children's Stories, and Loggers. This series provides handy reference for students of the West, a time in our American history which fascinates people from all over the world.

This is a very good book for those having an interest in The Oregon Trail and its history. It bridges the gap between the history of the trail and a current travel guide to trace its history.

Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the trail or the general history of the area.

This is an excellent introductory overview of the Oregon Trail, geared mainly for the modern-day traveler. Hill breaks the book down into four sections:

1) Historical overview: summary of trail highlights, listed by years (1803-1859);

2) A copy of the Fremont-Preuss maps of 1846 (a little hard to read); an excerpt from Lansford Hastings's EMMIGRANT GUIDE (1846) and Clayton's GUIDE (1847); and some excerpts from a few trail diaries;

3) The longest section, a pictorial "see it then, see it now" chapter, compiling phtos and pictures of scenes along the trail taken or drawn by early travelers and the same scene as viewed today (photos taken by Hill on his own travels);

4) a listing of museums and displays in cities and towns that the trail went through (there are a lot of them, more than I expected), and an annotated bibliography.

Anyone just getting interested in the Oregon Trail will find this book beneficial. It touches on a number of aspects regarding the trail without getting into too much detail - and pushes the reader in the right direction to find out more. Well done!

My wife and I are planning to travel some of the trail this coming summer - I think this book will help us feel a part of the past as it not only shows great pictures, but tells the stories about these places as you follow it!

Very practical and well written
The book displays a passion which seeks to inform without predjudice.

While there is information in this collection of articles that is specific to Oregon viticulture, there is also a good bit of information that is useful for any viticultural area. The sections on financial planning, site preparation, trellising, and labor were very useful. The diagrams on climate for Oregon are easy to read and done in color with a nice glossy finish. There is a good section on organic methods, but it mostly deals with certification, and not with actual organic methods. Oregon is probably one of the most promising areas for organic viticulture, and it is a little bit of a disappointment that this topic was not covered in more detail.

And although I am in the Northeast, I find this book to be a useful reference, and my copy is starting to show some wear and tear.

Very helpful for anyone thinking about growing grapes for revenue in the Oregon grape growing region.

Excellent reference for those who are corporately inclined to pursue in an upper management capacity. Broadens the scope of what true management is! Any BA degree student should own this!

This wasn't a bad text by any means. This fit right in with class, and has really good sections on "Case Studies." This was a text that I didn't find "boring" like so many out there.

I'm using this book for a graduate course of Individual and Group Behavior. The book is big (which reminds me of a elementary text book) but the content is worth the space. Each chapter incorporates current, real world examples, useful diagrams, a section of "Point/Counterpoint" discussing the chapter topics, and concludes with "Questions for Review", "Questions for Critical Thinking", "Team Exercise", "Ethical Dilemma" and "Case Incidents" If you get a copy with the CD, you can use it to take self-assessments online using the book. I find this book extremely helpful in my course and it will be on my desk at work when I'm done.

Interesting, a great read for anyone interested in feminist psychology and/or how women are attracted to cults. I respect the author's careful discussion of her methods and her openess. Highly recommended.

A fascinating look at one of the least studied phenomenoms about religious movements and cults - why do they often draw women from privileged backgrounds. Is it guilt? Is there something about the priveliged lifestyle that makes these women crave something spiritual? Goldman shows that the answers aren't the ones that automatically come to mind, affected by early family experiences, vulnerability and a lack of solid identity - and even such subtle factors as where they live. I read this one in a single day, as I found it that compelling and helped me to understand why people I knew had joined cults.

Marion Goldman's Passionate Journeys is a great surprise! A friend gave it to me raving and I started reading it as a favor. It is a knockout! It captures an era and a phenomenon that has been a mystery to many of us and described a dynamic that could happen to many women tomorrow. It's a totally involving read and left me wondering if I was susceptible to joining a cult, even one which took a dramatic and bizarre and utterly fascinating turn as did the Rajneeshi cult. Don't miss this one.

For over 30 years the regional flora for the Pacific Northwest was Hitchcock et al., Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. For people on the wet side of the mountains, Kozloff provides a new standard guide. He gives us a wealth of fine photographs (over 700 in color) and illustrations, with clear descriptions and keys, allowing identification of nearly every species found in western Washington and Oregon (experts have noticed that a few species are missed, though). Non-native species are identified, with reference to their country of origin. As the most recent comprehensive text, it also provides a reasonably current taxonomic picture of the region as well, which is very useful as hundreds of new names have appeared since the days of Hitchcock. In sum, if you want the definitive flora for the region, this is it. If you want something more portable, though, you should look at a field guide - Pojar and MacKinnon's.

This book may be the most comprehensive, definitive book on NW flora, but it's not very helpful to me. It's like reading a technical manual. I realize there are people who enjoy reading technical manuals, but most people don't. (That's not to say there's anything wrong with technical manuals, they just don't interest most people.) So my assumption is this book isn't written for most people.

I'd love for someone to take the information in this book and make it more engaging and accessible. Now there's a book that a wider audience would value and enjoy.

I would give this book an A- almost there and ahead of the rest.
needs a little more in the photo section for easy ID but beats the heck out of the Hitchcock that I have carried for years. I now have 2 copies..one at home and one in my pack

This was likely a very good book when published, but unfortunately, it is a bit out of date. For example, there are 15 reviews in the B's (alphabetically), but 5 of the restaurants have closed. Having said that, the book is well done and still useful when trying to find a good place to eat-just call ahead. There are 2 indices that I found helpful: listing of restaurants by neighborhood and listing by food type. The index lacks page numbers, but the restaurants are organized by name, so just remember your ABC's. My book appears to be the 5th printing of the first edition, purchased mid-late 2004. Portland prides itself on great food and local ingredients. If visiting, don't miss trying one of the local restaurants. A good, free guide is the weekly Willamette Week newspaper.

My husband and I keep this book in our car so that whenever we're in Portland we can grab it quickly. In addition to the alphabetical listing and descriptions of 200 reasonably priced restaurants, the book has an excellent index. You can look up restaurants by section of town or by the type / style of food you want. Cheap Eats has given us the opportunity to sample many different restaurants that we would never have found without it. Instead of picking the same places over and over, you can expand your choices...and eat well inexpensively.

My husband and I like to eat out at least three times a week, so this book has been very helpful in finding places that won't break the bank. We stay primarily in SE, but it includes restaurants all over town. Highly recommended.

My husband and I have recently begun walking at least 1/2 hour per day but have gotten the bug and often want to walk more. This book is an excellent resource. I've never seen one so thorough, combining history along with a route that is so clear a person would have to really try in order to get lost. The history notes are so fascinating (and I'm not in to history at all) and it divides the walk directions into numbered sections so you always feel like you're making headway. If you like to walk and you are in the Portland area, you really need this resource book!

This book could only be improved by more photos of the georgeous landscaping in and around Portland, Oregon. The cover shows four beautiful photos which the Amazon cover shot misses (you can hardly make them out), which is more than enough to whet the appetite.

Come in the spring and if the day is sunny you'll be moving to Portland. Not only the sights but the people will astound you. They're polite and helpful to strangers, unlike other cities I've visited. Here they'll offer you assistance before you need ask.

Food? Did someone say food? There's more local flavor here than you'd expect. That's an additional benefit of visiting neighborhoods on foot. You have time to stop and talk with local merchants. Many neighborhood eating establishments are listed, as well as suggestions if you should pack a picnic.

Laura Foster obviously loves Portland and knows it probably better than anyone. Having hiked, biked and walked Portland neighborhoods during my childhood, I too know the thrill of discovering a new hideout or short-cut. Some familiar paths are now overgrown, and windy hillside paths such as the one from Burnside Street to Washington Park had to be closed but there are countless others to be discovered.

Great gift book, for newcomers to Portland and anyone who's lived here for years but has never really gotten to know the city. Portland, Oregon is a treasure, and I personally want to thank Laura Foster for this wonderful book.

I walk/hike with two other women once a week. We have found no other book which does what this one does. It not only provides interesting walks acurately, but also covers the history, architecture and plants along the way. I can't say enough about how much we've enjoyed this book.

This book provides some great pictures of historic Portland and compares them with current Portland images. While it's not the most expansive piece regarding Portland landmarks, it captures important aspects of Portland's history.

What an interesting idea it was to take current pictures from the same angle as old photos of Portland. The book is well done and anyone who has lived in Portland and enjoys history will love this book

This book is excellent! It has a lot of great pictures of our city and the "now" photos tried to keep the same angles and perspectives. I love this book!

The book is an excellent, extensive look into the history of Portland's elected officials. Even lifelong Portlanders will be sure to pick up some new factoid or historical reference they probably didn't know.

However, a few mistakes snuck through despite the research and footnoting effort. Nothing too bad, several typos, listing one date for an event and then listing another even in the same chapter. Nothing that couldn't be fixed by going through the book again with a different editor and cleaning up the text. It did make me wonder about the editing process she used, because the lengthy fact-checking and researching is one of the main claims of the book yet obvious errors snuck through.

This ambitious work covers more than a century and a half of the history of Portland, Oregon, from its days as a clearing in the Pacific Northwest wilderness to its present status as 28th largest city in the United States. (This review title, by the way, refers to two of the community's most prominent nicknames. "Stumptown" was an early reference to the number of trees that had to be felled to make room for the growing community; Portland lays claim to being the "city of roses" today by hosting the annual Rose Festival).

Author Jewel Lansing knows the city government from the inside; she served a term as the elected auditor. Since her retirement from elective politics, she's devoted considerable energy to researching all facets of the city's history. The story unfolds chronologically, with the 42 men and two women who have served as Portland mayor providing the thread of continuity. The text weaves together the political, business and cultural forces that have shaped today's city.

It's an often lively story. At the dawn of the twentieth century, Portland was known as a wide-open community where corruption and vice flourished. Men who ventured too close to the wrong areas of the waterfront would find themselves shanghaied for service aboard oceangoing ships. Lansing covers the wave of reform that swept the city and state shortly thereafter, and many of the great battles that dominated the ensuing decades, such as the fight over public vs. private power in the 1920s and the siting of freeways in the 1950s.

Lansing's prose is clear, straightforward and rarely given to flights of fancy or rhetorical flourishes. Exhaustively researched, well-organized and profusely illustrated, this volume is among the best ever to appear telling the Portland story.--William C. Hall

It's a startling moment when an author promotes her book by recommending its footnotes, but Jewel Lansing did just that at a book launching in City Hall in early November. After reading through her book, Portland, People, Politics and Power, 1851-2001, I want to assure the footnote-phobic that they should buy the book anyway. This is a very comprehensive book on the people and issues that shaped our city in. It's also an engaging read.

To date my standard reference works on Portland's development have been E. Kimbark MacColl's three books on some of the same topics. They are not out of date but unfortunately they are out of print. Access to city records has greatly improved since the 1970's when MacColl wrote his books and there is now a professionally organized records management system operated by the City Auditor.

Mrs. Lansing has taken full advantage of these public resources, of Dr. MacColl's original research papers (which he generously loaned), the works of many other professional historians and original materials to construct a comprehensive history of the development of our city government. There are three main areas of focus: the personalities, the issues, and the deals.

The format is fresh. Although the book is divided into sequential chapters covering 150 years of history, the flow of text is often interrupted with sidebars and boxes of additional information, an anecdote, or even a small chart or table. These enhance the main text, but can also be used to latch onto the primary narrative, if you are a reader who avoids beginning a book on page one and plowing purposefully through to the end. You can make a meal of the appetizers as it were, or they might lure you on to the main course.

While events are organized in chronological order, contents are equally tasty, for the author has an eye for quirky, intriguing morsels. For instance she describes the matter-of-fact approach of reform Mayor Allen G. Rushlight (from the Midway area of our neighborhood), a professional plumber, who was elected in 1911 for a two-year term:
"The mayor used his plumbing background to taxpayer advantage. When the city's "balky" crematory kept acting up (he) donned his old overalls and climbed inside to repair it..."
Or a comment made by pugnacious East-side developer Ben Holladay in 1869:
"Immediately after he arrived in town...he bought a large plot of land east of the river and declared that the city of the future would be on that side, that the grass would soon be growing on Front Street, and that he would make a rat-hole out of west-side Portland."
Reading a book about the city's history over a 150-year time period makes you realize that the same issues just keep coming back - where to get water, how to improve transportation, eliminate drug dealing and prostitution, pay for education and do it all without raising taxes. And we are never satisfied with our elected officials:
"Was there ever a city government managed in such a worthless and imbecile manner as this our city of Portland? We have not a continuous street that is passable with a well loaded vehicle. Current revenue is sixteen thousand dollars. What becomes of this money?" The Oregonian,1860

The book pulls no punches when it comes to contemporary issues, since Mrs. Lansing was an elected official herself between 1975-1986 (county, then city auditor) and reports as an insider on activities at City Hall under the direction of Mayors Frank Ivancie and Bud Clark and council members Schwab, Lindberg, Strachan, Jordan and Bogle. As the first city auditor to be a certified public accountant, she also describes the improvements she successfully implemented and the resistance to those changes in City Hall.

As a quick reference source, the book is invaluable for its lists in the back of the book of city officials, including dates served and in some instances place of birth, occupations, dates of birth/death. The text of the City Charter (1851) and locations of city halls (there were 18 others before our current building) are also included. Finally, there are those (foot) notes: They don't get in the way! Along with the index they are at the back of the book and constitute almost a fourth narrative that enhances the main text. As an auditor might phrase it, this is great value for the money ($30.00).

Treat yourself to an interesting read about your city, as well as a valuable reference book. Or buy it for someone on your holiday gift list. I think you will find it full of information, stories, insights and memories. It's a good read!