Fall 2024
Briefly noted
Books by Washington State University alumni, faculty, and staff » More ...
Anthropology
Summer 2023
Food and its freedoms
Emma Johnson advocates for traditional Native foods and food sovereignty. » More ...
Summer 2020
Sniffing out patterns
The way we interact with dogs across cultures and time periods varies widely. » More ...
Winter 2019
Veterans preserve history
Veterans are now curators of ancient lives at Washington State University through a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers program to catalog archaeological finds. » More ...
Fall 2018
The curation crisis
More than 8,500 years ago, a group of people used a rock shelter at the confluence of the Palouse and Snake Rivers as a base camp. When rediscovered in the early 1950s, the shelter amazed scientists, including Washington State University archeologist Richard Daugherty, with its wealth of artifacts—and the age of its human remains. Named after the property owner at the time, the Marmes Rockshelter was soon inundated by waters from the recently closed Lower Monumental Dam on the Snake. Although a levee had been built by the Army Corps of Engineers to keep the shelter dry, the Corps neglected to take into account the … » More …
Spring 2018
Fires burned, cauldrons bubble
In the embers of an ancient winter day, a Swedish scout scrambles up the hill of snow-covered boulders, hurrying over the slippery ground between them along a narrow path. His panting breath trails after him until he stumbles through the castle gate gasping, “Vandals on the riverbank! Bandits to the east!”
The heavy palisade slams shut behind him as men rush to position along a glinting rock wall. From 150 feet above the valley floor, they watch as silhouettes begin scaling the boulders below. With a signal, arrows and stones rain down upon them, yet the marauders advance, dragging their weapons or clenching them in … » More …
Winter 2017
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Untold Stories: Forty Years of Field Research on Root Diseases of Wheat
By R. James Cook
American Phytopathological Society Press: 2017
Throughout the compelling stories and personal experiences shared by Jim Cook, a retired research plant pathologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service and emeritus professor of plant pathology at Washington State University, readers can find practical crop management techniques and other beneficial information that can be used in the field and the lab. Cook also chronicles many of his insightful experiences—and imparts his philosophy, wisdom, and practical guidance.
Living on the Edge: Adventures of a Hunter
By Shannon L. … » More …
Fall 2017
The people’s plants
The Dominican boy had a leaf draped over his head, secured with a length of vine. Anthropologist Marsha Quinlan was intrigued.
“I asked him, ‘Is that a hat?’” she recalls. “And he explained that, no, he woke up with a headache and the leaf makes your head feel better. And I thought that was so cool!”
Quinlan was a graduate student at the time, on her first trip to the Caribbean island of Dominica (not to be confused with the Dominican Republic). And that was the moment she realized she had to delve further into ethnobotany.
How people around the world use plants for food, … » More …
Fall 2017
Holy smokes
The straggly plant is easy to dismiss. Narrow leaves and white, trumpet-like flowers, fade easily into Northwest fields and roadsides. But Nicotiana attenuata, commonly known as coyote tobacco, contains medicinal and ceremonial properties long revered by Native American cultures.
For thousands of years, coyote and other types of wild tobacco have provided what many consider a versatile healing remedy and meditative, spiritual channel to the Creator. Much of the botanical lore was muddled, however, with the arrival of Europeans and subsequent cultural upheaval.
At Washington State University, researchers Shannon Tushingham and David Gang ’99 PhD are using a combination of archeology and high-end molecular chemistry … » More …
Fall 2017
Briefly noted
The Positive Leader: Five Leadership Strategies for Attaining Extraordinary Results
Howard Gauthier ’81
Sports Leadership Publishing Company: 2016
Through a series of parables, this book gives leadership strategies designed to build successful teams in the workplace, on the playing field, or in the boardroom. Gauthier is a former college basketball coach and athletic director, and is currently an associate professor of sports science at Idaho State University-Meridian.
Midwives and Mothers: Medicalization of Childbirth on a Guatemalan Plantation
Sheila Cosminsky ’64 MA
University of Texas Press: 2016
In this exploration of birth, illness, death, and survival on a Guatemalan sugar and coffee plantation, Cosminsky … » More …