Humanities

Fall 2014

Island Queens and Mission Wives: How Gender and Empire Remade Hawai‘i’s Pacific World

Jennifer Thigpen

University of North Carolina Press, 2014</p

When white missionaries landed on the sunlit shores of Hawai‘i in the early nineteenth century, they believed they were bringing God, culture, and civilization. They failed to realize that instead they were pulled into a sophisticated and long-standing system of Hawaiian diplomacy.

The missionaries’ relationship with the ruling families of Hawai‘i has long been the subject of study. But Thigpen, an associate … » More …

Fall 2014

Asian American Women’s Popular Literature

Pamela Thoma

Temple University Press, 2013

Since Nathaniel Hawthorne famously complained about the “damned mob of scribbling women” in 1855, much has changed in American literary and popular culture, not least the nation’s racial demographics, which now include substantial numbers of Asian Americans, as well as other people of color. And yet, the significance of women’s popular fiction continues to be overlooked, if not derided outright, by many social and cultural … » More …

Summer 2014

Mullan Road monuments

An exclusive chapter about monuments along the Mullan Road by historian Keith Petersen.

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Summer 2014

Excerpt from The Many Lives of the Crystal Ballroom

Two chapters from the history of Portland’s Crystal Ballroom by Tim Hills.

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Summer 2014

Tim Hills ’93—Hotels and history

The bodyguards standing sentry outside James Brown’s dressing room were as tall as the ceiling—an impossible 20 feet or so, remembers Tim Hills ’93 MA. But maybe it was his nerves.

After a long wait, the door opened and the historian was granted entry. Reclining on a sofa in Portland’s Crystal Ballroom, decked out in a blue leather suit, surrounded by his large entourage, the Godfather of Soul was prepared to entertain Hills’ questions for the next hour.

How did an unassuming public historian who once worked for the Congressional Information Service before earning a graduate degree in history from WSU end up interviewing one … » More …

Summer 2014

Lost highway

John Mullan closed the last link of the Northwest Passage and vanished from history—until now

On a May morning in 1858, along a small creek on the northern edge of the Palouse, hundreds of warriors from several Inland Northwest Indian tribes closed in on 160 Army soldiers led by Col. Edward Steptoe. An Army retreat turned into a 10-hour running battle. Two company commanders were mortally wounded, panicking the men. At last, the troops took up defensive positions on a hillside in what is today Rosalia. As night fell, they were surrounded, outgunned, and down to two rounds of ammunition apiece.

More than a … » More …

Summer 2014

The time in between

England came late to the Renaissance. But by the time it arrived, its greatest contribution would be literary. John Donne, William Shakespeare, and Ben Jonson served a literate aristocracy eager to be informed and entertained.

Into the late sixteenth century comes the observant figure of Michel de Montaigne, a French statesman and prolific essayist who wrote about nearly everything his mind encountered, “from cannibals to codpieces, suicide to faith,” as Will Hamlin, WSU’s English literature and Renaissance scholar, puts it. For most English readers of the time, Montaigne’s French Essais were made accessible by a translation undertaken by his contemporary John Florio, a language teacher … » More …

Summer 2014

A Washington childhood

As spring surrenders to summer, so must we yield our state to its youngest residents, approximately 1.15 million children and teens who will soon take over our communities, yards, pools, beaches, and parks.

One of my early memories is of exploring a campsite on Mount Rainier. I remember roaming around the spot on a cool June morning, exploring a paved road dusted with pine needles and peering into the wet shadows of the woods. Laced into my first hiking boots, I followed my parents along the Sunrise Nature trail, an easy 1.5 mile loop … » More …

Summer 2014

New & noteworthy

Kierkegaard for the Church: Essays and Sermons

by Ronald F. Marshall ’71

Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2013

Søren Kierkegaard’s philosophy and writings on Christianity have been a staple of classrooms and academics for many years, but have not necessarily been applied to the practice and teaching of the Christian faith. Marshall, pastor at First Lutheran Church in West Seattle since 1979, takes Kierkegaard’s criticisms of the Danish church and emphasis on individual engagement with the religion into pragmatic sermons and essays on the philosopher’s role in churches today. Marshall has authored more than 50 articles on religion, specializing in the works of Martin Luther … » More …

Summer 2014

Hunger Immortal: The First Thirty Years of the West Seattle Food Bank, 1983–2013

Ronald F. Marshall ’71

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013

What is today the West Seattle Food Bank started as a shoestring operation in an abandoned public school building. A pair of retired grocers from South Dakota had taken on responsibility for distributing government commodities like cheese and peanut butter to needy community members.

Thirty years later, the food bank owns its own building, serves an average of 750 families a week, and … » More …