Book

Winter 2017

Peace Weavers: Uniting the Salish Coast through Cross-Cultural Marriages

Candace Wellman ’68

WSU Press: 2017

Clara Tennant Selhameten was born the daughter of Lummi tribal leader in what became Whatcom County, and eventually married John Tennant, the son of a famous Methodist minister around 1859. Tennant established the first permanent farm in the region, on Lummi land. In later years, she and John traveled as missionaries and built many churches. It was clear that the couple were true partners in both spiritual … » More …

Winter 2017

Green and Roughshod: I Should’ve Stayed a Montana Cowboy

Dan H. McLachlan ’66, ’69 MA

Aventine Press: 2016

The dream of a little boy to become a cowboy came true for Dan McLachlan. He read a 1927 text, All in the Day’s Riding, as an eighth-grader in Palo Alto, California, and became enamored with the vision of a wide blue sky viewed from horseback. After earning enough to buy two horses and tack, he eventually ended up in Montana for … » More …

Fall 2017

James Thayer on the craft of the novel

James Thayer reads from The Boxer and the Poet

James Thayer ‘71 reads the first chapter of his romantic comedy, The Boxer and the Poet.

Tips and Techniques

Thayer started teaching the craft of the novel about ten years ago as a creative writing instructor at the University of Washington. He’s also a regular contributor to Author magazine.

Thayer, a natural storyteller, absorbed his craft through his lifelong voracious reading habit. When he first got the teaching job, he realized he didn’t have enough to say to fill a 90-hour, year-long course. So, as is his wont, he read a bunch of books. … » More …

Fall 2017

Steve Smart reads from Whispers of the Greybull

Steve Smart ’75 had spent much of the hot summer day making the rounds of the various landscaping and construction projects his company had underway throughout the Inland Northwest.

Back at his office atop a commercial nursery just outside Spokane, he agreed to take a break and read a selection from his first novel, Whispers of the Greybull. He’d have preferred to stay out on the work sites but got cleaned up and took a seat.

The novel, which Smart wrote while recovering from a near-fatal accident, is set in the Depression-era Midwest and was a recipient of a Will Rogers Medallion for inspirational … » More …

Summer 2017

Honored and Dishonored Guests

Westerners in Wartime Japan

W. Puck Brecher

Harvard Univ. Asia Center: 2017

There was little surprise when the Japanese military police arrested and imprisoned a number of British and U.S. citizens on their soil after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Some, like the Reverend Samuel Heaslett, were held and interrogated for a few months, then released and eventually sent back to North America. However, outside prison walls, Western … » More …

Summer 2017

How Plants Work

Linda Chalker-Scott

Timber Press: 2015

Anyone interested in how plants do what they do will enjoy How Plants Work. Washington State University associate professor of horticulture Linda Chalker-Scott has brought the essentials of plant science together and made them entertaining for gardeners and the otherwise curious.

Chalker-Scott digs into the science of plants while keeping the narrative rooted in successfully growing a garden. Along the way, she evaluates a variety … » More …

Summer 2017

Briefly noted

Atomic Geography: A Personal History of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation

Melvin R. Adams

WSU Press: 2016

One of the first environmental engineers at Hanford recalls his two decades of study of both the toxic soil and water at the nuclear site, and the wildlife and plants that thrive on the 586 square miles of central Washington desert. Adams helped determine the initial scope of the soil cleanup at Hanford, among other projects there. He shares his perspectives on leaking waste storage, the obsession with safety, and the paradoxical nature of a place that’s a sprawling wildlife refuge and one of the most complex environmental … » More …

Spring 2017

“Hang Them All”

George Wright and the Plateau Indian War

Donald L. Cutler ’76

University of Oklahoma Press: 2016

Questions about the viciousness of Col. George Wright’s month-long war against Indian tribes of the Upper Columbia Plateau typically are filtered through a lens of historical and cultural context.

The cruelty of Wright’s tactics during the Plateau Indian War of 1858 are undeniable. He hanged 16 Indians, including some who had surrendered after being told … » More …

Spring 2017

Swift Dam

Sid Gustafson ’77, ’79 DVM

Open Books: 2016

Swift Dam pulls you in, drags you practically, sweeping you over the western landscape until you are ankle deep in Sid Gustafson’s world. The writing flows through the reader’s mind like water and entrenches the reader in the story. With each passing chapter, it becomes harder to discern if you are reading a published novel or a form of the author’s diary.

The story follows … » More …

Spring 2017

One More Last Cast

On the addictive nature of fishing

Dennis D. Dauble ’78 MS

FishHead Press: 2016

Fishing is serious business for anglers, and absurdly funny for everyone, a truth understood fully by author Dauble. His misadventures, fishing treks, and philosophical musings fuel this amusing and thoughtful series of short true-life stories by the retired fish biologist and WSU Tri-Cities instructor.

Whether he’s griping about his buddy Leroy’s vintage—and only marginally functional—outboard motor, … » More …