Book

Spring 2010

Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America

semple

Matthew Avery Sutton

Harvard University Press, 2007

No figure in early twentieth-century Christianity gained as much fame, notoriety, and acclaim as Aimee Semple McPherson. “Sister” McPherson oversaw the rise of an expansive empire—church services, radio, stagecraft, community service, politics, and print media—devoted to spreading her brand of fundamentalism and Pentecostal Protestantism. McPherson herself inspired a massive following, due in part to her charisma and ability to use modern techniques to further her cause of “old-time … » More …

Spring 2010

Women’s Voices: The Campaign for Equal Rights in Washington

womens_votes

Shanna Stevenson

WSU Press, 2009

This year marks the 100-year anniversary of women’s suffrage in Washington state. As the fifth state in the Union to allow women to vote, Washington’s landmark was more than a half-century in the making. In fact, in 1883, when Washington was a territory, woman did win the right to vote. Then, just five years later, the right was revoked and they had to campaign all over again.

In her latest … » More …

Winter 2009

The Rising Sea

risingsea-cover

Orrin H. Pilkey ’57 and Rob Young

Island Press, 2009

The island nations of Tuvalu and the Maldives, the Inupiat Eskimo village of Shishmaref, and Soldado Island off the Colombian coast might be tough to find on a geography quiz. But all of these locations foretell a future of oceans overwhelming coastlines. In each of these remote places, residents are either moving or preparing to move to higher ground before their homes get swallowed by the … » More …

Winter 2009

Olive the Little Woolly Bugger :: Olive and the Big Stream :: Olive Goes for a Wild Ride

olivebugger-cover

Kirk Werner ’85

Johnson Books, 2007, 2009

Flyfishing— a sport and an art practiced for centuries—fascinates me with its smooth casts and rhythm, but I had never connected flyfishing with kids. At least not until Olive the Woolly Bugger, a cartoon “streamer” fly starring in a series of three books that introduce flyfishing to children.

Playing off goofy fly names—like zonker, yellow sally, and gold-ribbed hare’s ear—author and angler Kirk Werner (’85 Comm.) creates a … » More …

Fall 2009

“They are all Red Out Here”: Socialist Politics in the Pacific Northwest, 1895-1925

"They are all Red Out Here": Socialist Politics in the Pacific Northwest, 1895-1925 book cover

Jeffrey A. Johnson
University of Oklahoma Press, 2008

Few if any aspects of the Northwest’s political and labor history have been so thoroughly documented as the region’s most radical era, from the 1890s to the First World War. Books and articles have highlighted such topics as the rise of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg’s … » More …

Fall 2009

America’s Nuclear Wastelands: Politics, Accountability, and Cleanup

America's Nuclear Wastelands: Politics, Accountability, and Cleanup book cover

Max S. Power
WSU Press, 2008

When engineers, physicists, and other scientists began making materials for nuclear bombs, the Manhattan Project sites around the country including Hanford, Los Alamos, and Oak Ridge were wrapped in World War II and Cold War secrecy. The processes, products, and, most importantly, the waste they produced were hidden from the American public.

Even people who lived near the test facilities were unaware … » More …

Fall 2009

Greenscapes: Olmsted’s Pacific Northwest

Greenscapes: Olmsted’s Pacific Northwest book cover

Joan Hockaday
WSU Press, 2009

John Charles Olmsted, nephew and stepson of world-famous park designer Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. and half brother of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., spent much of his life in the shadows of his more famous relatives. Even so, on the West Coast he has had the greatest and most lasting influence of any single landscape architect.

Because of an invitation made to the Olmsted … » More …

Summer 2009

Uncle Phil and the Atomic Bomb

John Abelson ’60, and Philip H. Abelson ’33, ’35
Roberts & Company, 2007

I was lucky enough to meet Philip Abelson in 2002 on the occasion of his visit to Pullman for the dedication of Abelson Hall (formerly Science Hall) in honor of the scientist and his wife Dr. Neva Abelson ’34.

During our brief interview, Abelson downplayed his own story, instead emphasizing his family’s ties to Washington State University. In 1905, his parents … » More …

Summer 2009

Plowed Under: Agriculture and Environment in the Palouse

Andrew P. Duffin PhD ’02
University of Washington Press, 2007

This is an important and disturbing book, both for the environmental degradation it documents and the message of what little progress our agricultural practices on the Palouse have made.

In a sense, the precursor of Plowed Under was a series of lectures by William Spillman in 1924. Spillman, a versatile and prescient scientist, was one of Washington State Agricultural College’s first faculty members, hired by … » More …

Spring 2009

Sudoku for Lunch

Sudoku for Lunch book

How does one review a book of Sudoku puzzles? There’s no plot, no metaphor, no elegant or awkward use of language. There are just the puzzles, which themselves are pure pattern.

But the puzzle-making process clearly involves skill and attention, because Sudoku books, like novels and collections of poetry, vary widely in quality. Sudoku For Lunch is a lively, fun, and well-designed example of the genre. (And it has the added benefit of being printed on high-quality paper that stands up well to erasure.)

Riensche presents 250 puzzles in groups based on how long … » More …