<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Agreeable Regional History
Review: Bought in Portland, read it during my week long visit to the Northwest. As a resident of California who has visited Washington (Seattle), Oregon (Portland, Bend) and Idaho (Boise, Sun Valley), I decided to get this book because it treats the three states as a region. I figured it would be more efficient then reading seperate histories of the three states. I wasn't dissapointed.
Schwanter does a good job differentiating the three states while at the same time making the case for the area's treatment as a region. Most of the writing is workmanlike. Rarely did I find myself transported to a different time and place.
The most interesting sections were the early settlement of Oregon and the section dealing with the politics of Oregon in the twentieth century.
Good introduction to the history of the area, but it didn't compel me to do any follow up reading. Kind of seems like a community college text book at times.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful Book
Review: I just loved this book. It was required to read for a history class. I just loved how the author wrote this book, and added humor into it.I was so interested of what was going to happen next. a good book to read, a good book for any type of reading. It's about the history of "The Pacific NorthWest", for before the time when Lewis and Clark explored the area and reached Astoria on the coast of Oregon. It talks about the Days of Captain cook and the fight for the terriory, and each chapter is broken down into sub-chapters for more clarification. It goes to the history of N.W. to about the mid 1990's. I really enjoyed this book, and learned a lot about the area.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Book
Review: I just loved this book. It was required to read for a history class. I just loved how the author wrote this book, and added humor into it. I was so interested of what was going to happen next. a good book to read, a good book for any type of reading. It's about the history of "The Pacific NorthWest", for before the time when Lewis and Clark explored the area and reached Astoria on the coast of Oregon. It talks about the Days of Captain cook and the fight for the terriory, and each chapter is broken down into sub-chapters for more clarification. It goes to the history of N.W. to about the mid 1990's. I really enjoyed this book, and learned a lot about the area.
Rating:
Summary: easy reading
Review: I've used this as a textbook for a college level history class, and I've enjoyed it quite a bit. Schwantes' writing flows, and reads more like a story rather than a textbook. I could and probably would read this book on my own time as a source of entertainment. He does not dig very deep into the subject, but as stated above, he simply gives a brief oversite of the history of the region. If you have a casual interest in the PNW, buy this book. You may find it cheaper in a book store though. I paid less in a college bookstore!!!
Rating:
Summary: easy reading
Review: Mr. Schwentes has written a fine example of what an introductory survey of a region should be: broad and sympathetic in scope, with generous quotes, excerpts, and analysis. He doesn't harp on any one group's preeminance but instead shows us the region's social, political and economic fortunes from European discovery to the present, through graphs, photographs, political cartoons. Missing is only a much-needed chapter on pre-historic Native American habitation, but given his even-handed handling of the issue throughout the rest of the book, this is a quibble easily corrected in future editions. "The Pacific Northwest" would be a valuable text in a high school or college setting, as well as for the general public.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent introduction
Review: Mr. Schwentes has written a fine example of what an introductory survey of a region should be: broad and sympathetic in scope, with generous quotes, excerpts, and analysis. He doesn't harp on any one group's preeminance but instead shows us the region's social, political and economic fortunes from European discovery to the present, through graphs, photographs, political cartoons. Missing is only a much-needed chapter on pre-historic Native American habitation, but given his even-handed handling of the issue throughout the rest of the book, this is a quibble easily corrected in future editions. "The Pacific Northwest" would be a valuable text in a high school or college setting, as well as for the general public.
<< 1 >>
| 
