Reading Seattle: The City in Prose(Reading Seattle)

Seattle, with its spectacular natural beauty and rough frontier history, has inspired writers from its earliest days. This anthology spans seven decades and includes fiction, memoirs, histories, and journalism that define the city or use it as a setting, imparting the flavor of the city through a literary prism. Reading Seattle features classics by Horace R. Cayton, Richard Hugo, Betty MacDonald, Mary McCarthy, Murray Morgan, and John Okada as well as more recent works by Sherman Alexie, Lynda Barry, David Guterson, J. A. Jance, Jonathan Raban, and others. It includes cutting-edge work by emerging talents and reintroduces works by important Seattle writers who may have been overlooked in recent years. The writers featured in this volume explore a variety of neighborhoods and districts within the city, delineating urban spaces and painting memorable portraits of characters both historical and fictional.

Table of Contents:
Foreword--Charles Johnson Acknowledgments Introduction--Peter Donahue Part 1: Coming into Focus (1930s-1980s) Northwest Gateway: The Story of the Port of Seattle--Archie Binns The Executioner Waits--Josephine Herbst Farthest Reach: Oregon and Washington--Nancy Wilson Ross Annie Jordan: A Novel of Seattle--Mary Brinker Post Long Old Road--Horace R. Cayton How I Grew--Mary McCarthy Anybody Can Do Anything--Betty MacDonald Skid Road: An Informal Portrait of Seattle--Murray Morgan Nisei Daughter--Monica Sone No-No Boy--John Okada Seattle, Past to Present--Roger Sale Digressions of a Native Son--Emmett Watson The Real West Marginal Way: A Poet's Autobiography--Richard Hugo Part 2: Many Voices (1980s-1990s) Still Life with Woodpecker--Tom Robbins The Rainy City--Earl W. Emerson Sister of the Road--Barbara Wilson Seattle's Son--David Guterson The Good Rain: Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest--Timothy Egan Hunting Mister Heartbreak: A Discovery of America--Jonathan Raban Black Planet: Facing Race during an NBA Season--David Shields Emerald City: Third & Pike--Charlotte Watson Sherman Seattle and Vicinity--Colette Brooks A Good Man--Rebecca Brown Lying in Wait--J. A. Jance Rites of Passage: A Memoir of the Sixties in Seattle--Walt Crowley Street--Jack Cady Cold Snap--Thom Jones American Bullfrog--Charles D-Ambrosio Indian Killer--Sherman Alexie Blurred Vision: How the Eighties Began in One American Household--Natalia Rachel Singer Dark Blue Suit--Peter Bacho Part 3: Unto Itself (1990s-Early 2000s) A Fair Trade--Michael Byers Seattle Now: A Letter--Emily Baillargeon Russin Allan Stein--Matthew Stadler Sleep Dummy--Matt Briggs Breaking In--Paisley Rekdal Cruddy--Lynda Barry Green Lake--Edwin Weihe Never Mind Nirvana--Mark Lindquist Pearl's Secret: A Black Man's Search for His White Family--Neil Henry The Strangeness of Beauty--Lydia Minatoya Epilogue--John Trombold Bibliography

About the Author :
Peter Donahue teaches at Birmingham-Southern College and is the author of many short stories and books, including the novel Madison House. John Trombold teaches at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon. Previously, he taught English at a number of Seattle-area schools, including Seattle University, Pacific Lutheran University, Seattle Central Community College, and The Lakeside School. Together, they also edited the book Reading Portland (University of Washington Press and Oregon State Historical Society, 2007).

Review :
"What is here is bracing, informative, and strikingly varied..No matter what your tastes are, the anthology provides a fascinating sense of listening in on the mind of the city, humming away over the decades and coming up with myriad harmonies and discords distinctively its own." (The Seattle Times) "Donahue and Trombold have compiled a volume that fills a book void, especially in recognizing the outpouring of writing about Seattle in the most recent decade..[They] have worked hard to include many of the city's finest writers over the past 70 years..[and] have also done an admirable job in showcasing many lesser-known but rising talents." (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)