North Interstate Avenue, Portland, OR, February 2010. Kodak TMY.
The sweeping view, the grand vista, the bird’s-eye perspective. These are all classic ways of shooting the city, of trying to capture the greatness on a metropolitan scale. Such perspectives have been the staple of urban photography since the medium was born in the mid-Nineteenth Century.
Once …
Tag Archives: History
Urbanity and intimacy
Review: Oaks Park Pentimento
Oaks Park Pentimento: Portland’s Lost and Found Carousel Art
Photographs by Jim Lommasson. Introduction by Inara Verzemnieks. Afterword by Prudence Roberts. Oregon State University Press, 121 The Valley Library, Corvallis, OR 97331; http://oregonstate.edu/; 12.5 x 10.5 in; hardbound; 48 pages, 30 color and 9 b/w photos; $25.00
The transitory nature of art has always been fascinating. Photographs …
Review: Vis Major: Railroad Men, an Act of God: White Death at Wellington
Vis Major: Railroad Men, an Act of God: White Death at Wellington
By Martin Burwash. iUniverse, 1663 Liberty Drive, Bloomington, IN 47403; http://www.iuniverse.com/; 9 x 6 x 1.1 in; trade paperback; 480 pages, 15 maps; $29.95
In the late Winter of 1910, the largest avalanche disaster in the history of North America struck the tiny railroad town …
Review: Logging Railroads of Weyerhaeuser’s Vail-McDonald Operation
Logging Railroads of Weyerhaeuser’s Vail-McDonald Operation
By Frank W. Telewski & Scott D. Barrett. Oso Publishing Company, P.O. Box 1249, Hamilton, MT 59840; www.osorail.com; 9 x 11.5 in; hardcover; 354 pages, 371 b/w photos, 10 illustrations, 65 maps; $49.95
Logging railroads seem like a thing of the distant past. Mention them to someone and most won’t even …
Review: The Night Journal
The Night Journal: A Novel
By Elizabeth Crook. Viking/Penguin Group, 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014; http://us.penguingroup.com/; 6.3 x 9.1 in; hardcover; 464 pages; $24.95
Few novels delve into the world of the railroad, and fewer still successfully; Elizabeth Crook has written not only a fine novel of the late 19th century railroad world, but a …
Review: Leaders Count
Leaders Count: The Story of the BNSF Railway
By Larry Kaufman. Texas A&M University Press, John H. Lindsey Building, Lewis Street, 4354 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4354; http://www.tamu.edu/upress/; 9.1 x 6.1 in; trade paperback; 384 pages,; $14.95
Once upon a time, there were dozens of so-called “class one” railroads across the American continent, wielding massive political power …
Review: The Men Who Loved Trains
The Men Who Loved Trains: The Story of Men Who Battled Greed to Save an Ailing Industry
By Rush Loving Jr. Indiana University Press, 601 North Morton Street, Bloomington, IN 47404-3797; http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog/; 9.3 x 6.2 in; hardbound; 360 pages; $27.95
Penn Central. To this day, the name of this corporation sends shudders through the world of finance. …
Review: Westsider
Westsider: A Story of the Southern Pacific Portland Division Westside Line
By Dan Rehwalt. Grizzly Press, 76470 High Street, Oakridge, OR 97463; 5.25 x 8.25 in; trade paperback; 88 pages, 43 b/w photos, illustrations, and maps; $12.95
The trade paperback memoir is probably one of the most ubiquitous of books in small communities. A good percentage of …