nonfiction

A Family, Maybe By Lane Igoudin

$20.00

In his candid and emotional memoir, Lane Igoudin shows the human side of public adoption as he and his partner Jonathan seek to adopt their foster daughters from the Los Angeles County child welfare system. Desperately wanting to be fathers, they enter into a complicated legal process that soon becomes a tangle of drama-filled birth parent visits and children’s court hearings. Lane and Jon spend years not knowing whether they will be able to officially adopt the girls, or if the county will reunite the sisters with their birth mother, Jenna, a teenager in the state’s custody herself.

Tribal Histories of the Willamette Valley by David G. Lewis

$24.95

The Willamette Valley is rich with history—its riverbanks, forests, and mountains home to the tribes of Kalapuya, Chinook, Molalla, and more for thousands of years. This history has been largely unrecorded, incomplete, poorly researched, or partially told. In these stories, enriched by photographs and maps, Oregon Indigenous historian David G. Lewis combines years of researching historical documents and collecting oral stories, highlighting Native perspectives about the history of the Willamette Valley as they experienced it.

Oregon At Work: 1859–2009 By Tom Fuller & Art Ayre

$21.95

If you had searched the want-ads in 1859 Oregon, what kind of jobs would you have found? What sort of hours would you have worked, what work would you have done, and how much money would you have made? Oregon At Work: 1859–2009 looks at three eras in Oregon’s history: the mid-to-late 1800s, the early-to-mid-1900s, and the mid-1900s to the present. Using personal stories, photos, and historical data, the book shows what it was like to work and live in these very different periods of the state’s history.This meticulously researched and beautifully illustrated book brings to life the stories of real Oregonians. A foreword by former Governor Ted Kulongoski is included, as well as over 100 photographs and artifacts. The project has received support and endorsement from the Oregon Employment Department, Sons and Daughters of Oregon Pioneers, Oregon Small Woodlands Association, and others.

Speaking Out: Women, War, and the Global Economy By Jan Haaken

$23.72

What can the rest of the world do to help a war torn country? Every day in the headlines, on the home front, and around the world, we face the issue of how war affects people. Speaking Out leads this important discussion by asking the question: why war? Speaking Out addresses the effects of war on gender and reparation in a five-part, interactive curriculum that is adaptable for differing educational levels, from secondary school to college. Based on the documentary Diamonds, Guns, and Rice, Speaking Out bridges the local and the global, placing gripping personal stories in an international landscape and highlighting the creative capacities that survive war. The relevance of such lessons in today’s world proves invaluable as we ask the questions: who are the victims of war? What are the effects of war? How are these effects overcome?

Brew to Bikes By Charles Heying

$24.95

Dissatisfied with passive consumption, many residents of Portland, Oregon, take matters into their own hands. Associate Professor of Urban Studies Charles Heying noticed these local artisans prospering all over the city and set out to study their thriving economy. Profiling hundreds of local businesses, and with an eye on Portland’s unique penchant for sustainability and urban development, Brew to Bikes is about everything from bike manufacturers to microbreweries, from do-it-yourself to traditional crafts. A treatise to local, ethical business practices, Brew to Bikes positions Portland as a hub of artisan ingenuity worthy of admiration.

Rhythm in the Rain: Jazz in the Pacific Northwest By Lynn Darroch

$21.95

Rhythm in the Rain is a nonfiction narrative about the jazz community in the Pacific Northwest that examines the people, places, and events that have made cities like Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, so popular among musicians. From the genesis of Jackson Street and Williams Avenue in the 1940s & ’50s with such legends as Ray Charles and Quincy Jones, to the modern voices of George Colligan, Rebecca Kilgore, and Esperanza Spalding, this book aims to encompass and illuminate the rich musical history of a region that, while not widely recognized as a jazz mecca, has seen its relevance within the local community. Written by local musician, radio broadcaster, and author Lynn Darroch, Rhythm in the Rain serves to inform and entertain, while showing that jazz is undoubtedly another of the countless cultural offerings this wonderful corner of the country has cultivated throughout its history.