Historical books

Butch Cougar in front of a pile of books

Spring 2021

What to read: Offerings from WSU Press

Here’s a round-up of reading recommendations featuring 11 titles curated by the staff at WSU Press.

Be Brave, Tah-hy!: The Journey of Chief Joseph’s Daughter by Jack R. Williams with illustrations by Jo Proferes (2012). Exquisitely illustrated and rich with depictions of Nimiipuu Dreamer culture, Tah-hy’s young voice narrates this novel about the harrowing 1877 flight of the Nez Perce.

Edge of Tomorrow: An Arctic Year by Sam Wright (1998). Living in a hand-built, 12-foot-by-12-foot cabin in the Brooks Range of Alaska 100 miles inside the Arctic Circle, Wright records his experiences and thoughts through seasonal changes, as he and his wife spend … » More …

Spring 2020

Mao’s Kisses: A novel of June 4, 1989

Alex Kuo

Redbat Books, 2019

Deng Xiaoping learned to play bridge in the early 1950s. Little did he realize that appropriating state transportation to take him and his team to tournaments would result in the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and his being transported far from Beijing for reeducation through manual labor.

But Deng wasn’t just a Goren Prize-winning bridge player. He was, after his rehabilitation, China’s paramount leader during a time of civil crisis. The spring of 1989 brought … » More …

Spring 2020

Briefly noted

Brief reviews of books by Washington State University alumni » More ...

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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Winter 2007

WSU’s rarest book? Frederick Meserve’s Historical Portraits

One of the great joys of my job at Washington State University is the time I spend in the rare books vault in Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections. “Rare books vault” is a romantic way to describe two large, secure, climate-controlled rooms located on the ground floor of the Terrell Library, but it’s fitting, given the treasures held within.

I’ve been aware for years of our 28-volume set of Frederick Hill Meserve’s Historical Portraits, a terrific source for locating photographs of leading Americans of the Civil War era. The collection’s gilt-tooled, crimson, Morocco-leather spines cry out “open me.” In addition to its beauty, the set … » More …