Other Recommended Books

Books about Oregon and Our History Recommended by Librarians

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Recommended Fiction for Adults

Alexie, Sherman The Toughest Indian in the World
This acclaimed collection of stories presents the kind of native American rarely seen in literature--one portrayed without stereotypes--who pays his bills, holds down jobs, and falls in and out of love.

Bailey, Margaret The Grains, or, Passages in the life of Ruth Rover, with occasional pictures of Oregon, natural and moral

Balch, Frederic The Bridge of the gods; a romance of Indian Oregon

Chacon, Daniel And the Shadows Took Him
The Molinas, a Mexican American family, are living their version of the American dream in a Fresno barrio. When William gets a better job, it's the family's chance to enter the ranks of the middle class, and he announces that they're off to try their chances in Oregon.

Dillard, Annie The Living
The extravagantly praised, nationally bestselling first novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Dillard--a mesmerizing evocation of life in the Pacific Northwest during the last decades of the 19th century. "A novel of character that blends history, social change, and individual dreams in a sophisticated, seamless prose".--Seattle Times.

Doig, Ivan The Sea Runners
Four men, indentured Scandinavians, escape Russian Alaska and make their way down the Pacific Northwest coast in a stolen canoe.

Eidson, Tom All God's Children
A widowed Quaker woman struggles to raise her sons and keep her land on the frontier. When she befriends and takes in a Japanese-American family, trouble with her neighbors arises.

Fowler, Karen Joy Sarah Canary
Into a Chinese laborer's camp in the unsettled Northwest Pacific wanders a strange white woman dressed in black, speaking a garbled but ecstatic language. When a young Cantonese boy is chosen to escort her back to whatever unknown place she came from, they both embark on what proves to be an extraordinary odyssey.

Hamamura, John The Color of the Sea
Separated from his Japanese-American family and girlfriend by the interment practices of World War II, martial arts master Sam Hamada is recruited by the U.S. Army for a secret mission in Japan, where he finds himself torn between cultures.

Hockenberry, John A River Out of Eden
When several government employees are found murdered along the Columbia River, Francine Smohalla, a government worker of Chinook and white descent, embarks on an investigation and soon finds herself caught between her tribe and a local extremist.

Hudson, Helen A Temporary Residence
An emotionally charged portrait of the lives of the Japanese-Americans evacuated from their homes after the Pearl Harbor bombings and forced to relocate to the Mt. Hope Assembly Center.

Ikeda, David Stewart What the Scarecrow Said
Prosperous William Fujita, a Japanese American born as soon as his mother arrives on the mainland in 1897, must go with his family and other Japanese to the internment camps in 1942.

Kadohata, Cynthia The Floating World
Story of a Japanese-American girl and her family travelling around the Pacific Northwest during the 1950's.

Kogawa, Joy Obasan
Pearl Harbor changes life in Vancouver for Naomi Nakane when the government takes property from her relatives and interns them.

Larson, Elsie J. The Dawn's Early Light
Also known as: Tides of war ; bk. 1
A woman whose husband was killed at Pearl Harbor must face her prejudice when she is asked to spy on interned Japanese-Americans but becomes sympathetic to their plight.

Kirk Mitchell Black Dragon
During World War II, Jared Campbell, a civilian homicide detective stationed at Manzanar, a Japanese internment camp in California, joins forces with Hank Fukuda, the camp's internal police chief, to investigate the decapitation murder of the camp director and the suicide of an internee

Malladi, Amulya Serving Crazy with Curry
Pressured by her mother to marry and become a traditional Indian wife and confronted by the loss of her job in Silicon Valley, Devi seeks refuge from her despair in attempted suicide, only to be forced to move back in with her parents until she recovers.

Edward Miyakawa. Tule Lake

Mueller, Marnie The Climate of the Country
The stories of the Japanese Americans interred at the Tule Lake Relocation Center during the second World War are told by Denton Jordan, a conscientious objector who both lives and works in the camp.

Okada, John No-No Boy
Ichiro, a Japanese-American, returns to Seattle, Washington after spending two years in an internment camp, and another two years in prison.

Otsuka, Julie When the Emperor Was Divine
Told from five different points of view, this story chronicles the experiences of Japanese Americans caught up in the nightmare of the World War II internment camps.

Pavelich, Matt Our Savage
From the Balkan backwater where he was born, Danilo Lazich, a giant of a man, makes his difficult way through life, continually wearing out his welcome in locales throughout Europe and the United States, until he finally settles in a remote corner of Wyoming.

Robinson, Eden Monkey Beach
Five hundred miles north of Vancouver is Kitamaat, an Indian reservation in the homeland of the Haisla people. When the mischievous 20-year-old Lisa Hill begins receiving visits from otherworldly guests, readers discover that this small community is alive with more than its colorful citizens.

Sakamoto, Kerri The Electrical Field
When a lonely, middle-aged Japanese-Canadian women is implicated in the murder of a beautiful young girl in a small Ontario suburb, the whole community is forced to come to terms with its dark past

Siporin, Alan Fire's Edge
From award-winning writer and former NPR reporter Alan Siporin, comes a riveting novel of suspense and courage, where people, good and bad, are tested by hate in Oregon's skinhead underworld.

Tatlock, Ann All the Way Home
From an abusive German-Irish family, Augusta informally adopts Sunny Yamagata's family as her own until the Yamagatas are sent to a Japanese-American internment camp in the 1940s. They meet again in Mississippi twenty years later.

Uyemoto, Holly Go
Wilhelmina deals with emotional problems and her Japanese-American family's history on the eve of her 21st birthday.

Veltfort, Ruhama The Promised Land
The renegade son of an orthodox rabbi in the shetls of Poland flees to the New World and settles into the mercantile splendor of golden-age St. Louis, where he is driven by recurring visions to lead his followers West on the Oregon Trail.

Weatherford, Joyce Heart of the Beast
In an attempt to save her family farm, Iris Steele explores generations of family history and lore, piecing together the story of her family's past, and the events that fostered fear and distrust between early homesteaders and Native Americans, and is still felt by their descendants today.

Wheeler, Richard S The Fields of Eden
In the mid 1840s, the trails from the Missouri frontier are clogged with pioneers searching for a new life in a remote land they call a "new Eden." This is the story of the emigrants who go up against the British Hudson's Bay Company to overcome their shattered dreams and make possible the settlement of Old Oregon

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Recommended Non-Fiction for Adults:

Aguilar, George When the river ran wild!: Indian traditions on the Mid-Columbia and the Warm Springs Reservation
Aguilar uses personal and historical documents to illustrate the changes for the Kiksht Chinooks since the arrival of Lewis and Clark. As he shares in his introduction, "This book focuses on Indian names and name-giving, fishing lore, and known traditional customs, myths, and beliefs."

Allerfeldt , Kristofer Race, radicalism, religion and restriction: immigration in the Pacific Northwest, 1890 - 1924
Many newcomers to the Northwest received exclusions rather than welcomes when arriving in the Northwest. In Allerfeldt's work, religion is represented by Catholic pioneers, radicalism by the International Workers of the World (Wobblies) and race by Japanese immigrants. Through these groups we get a picture of the social forces at work in the Northwest from 1890 to 1924.

Applegate, Shannon Skookum: an Oregon Pioneer Family's History and Lore
This book chronicles the history of the Applegate family beginning with their journey along the Oregon Trail to the Yoncalla Valley to the present day.

Beckham, Stephen Dow Requiem for a people: the Rogue Indians and the frontiersmen
Originally published in 1971, this classic study chronicles the consequences of settlers, war and other forces on the Rogue River Indians.

Boag, Peter Environment and experience: settlement culture in nineteenth-century
Boag explores the relationship between settlers and the environment, looking at how the settlers' sense of community varied and changed over time. The author challenges the view of the settler's relationship with nature and the wilderness as a battle rather than a positive experience.

Dary, David The Oregon Trail: an American saga
The Oregon Trail was the longest voluntary migration in history. Using primary sources, this book covers the history of the fur traders, missionaries, farmers, gold-seekers, and others who made this trip and had a profound influence on the American West.

De Cristoforo, Violet Kazue May sky: there is always tomorrow: an anthology of Japanese American concentration camp kaiko haiku
De Cristoforo anthologizes Kaiko Haiku, a contemporary form of the poetry which is not restricted to discussion of nature or the traditional haiku structure. Her work provides a history of haiku clubs, their members and their poetry, prior to and during the Japanese Internment.

Dirlik, Arikf Chinese on the American frontier
This collection of articles provides an overview of Chinese life in 19th century America in the West, including a section specific to the Northwest.

Etulain, Richard W Beyond the Missouri: the story of the American West
Covering a variety of topics including political, social and cultural changes, this volume chronicles the history of the American West and its changes starting with the first people in the area and continuing on to the present day.

Gamboa, Erasmo Nosotros: the Hispanic people of Oregon: essays and recollections

Husted, Bette Lynch Above the Clearwater: living on stolen land
This collection of essays touches on a variety of social and cultural topics as the author follows her family's history that begins on land in North Central Idaho that was originally home to the Nez Perce Indians.

Inada, Lawson Fusao Drawing the line: poems
Oregon's current Poet Laureate shares poetry about Oregon, Japanese American life and other topics in this collection.

Inada, Lawson Fusao Only what we could carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience
This collection of letters, stories, poetry and art reflects the experiences of many of the Japanese Americans held in internment camps during World War II.

Koppel, Tom Kanaka: the untold story of Hawaiian pioneers in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest
Koppel uses primary sources and interviews to piece together the experiences of Hawaiians who immigrated to the Pacific Northwest in the late 1800s.

Lowenstein, Steven The Jews of Oregon, 1850 - 1950
Using primary sources and oral histories, Lowenstein details the history of Jewish communities throughout Oregon. The book covers pioneer migrations in the 1800s to middle of the 20th century.

Oregon Council for the Humanities The First Oregonians: an illustrated collection of essays on traditional lifeways, Federal-Indian relations, and the State's Native People today.
The First Oregonians is a collection of essays reflecting the story of the native people of Oregon. This history covers life before the Oregon Trail up to contemporary times.

Oregon Council for the Humanities Nosotros: the Hispanic people of Oregon: essays and recollections
Nosotros contains essays and narratives which cover the history, influence and perspectives of the Hispanic community in Oregon.

Ravage, John W. Black Pioneers: Images of the Black experience on the North American Frontier
Ravage has collected previously unpublished photographs showing the experience of African Americans in the frontier West, including a chapter on the Pacific Northwest.

Tamura, Linda Hood River Issei: an oral history of Japanese settlers in Oregon's Hood River Valley
Through interviews conducted in the 1980's when the youngest Issei interviewed was 82 yrs old, Tamura collected oral histories of Japanese who immigrated to the US between the 1890's and 1924 to settle in the Hood River Valley. Themes explored include cultural experiences, immigration, settlement and internment during World War II.

Wendt, Ingrid From here we speak: an anthology of Oregon Poetry
This anthology collects a variety of Oregon poetry, from the songs of the Native Oregon Tribes to contemporary offerings. This collection follows the history of Oregon poetry and provides a unique perspective of Oregon community and history.

Willingham, William F. Starting over: community building on the eastern Oregon frontier
Focusing on the creation of a frontier community, this family history covers the settlement of Long Creek Valley in Eastern Oregon from the late 1800s to the 20th century.

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  • Oregon Public Broadcasting