Whistlepunks and Geoducks: Oral Histories from the Pacific Northwest
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By Ron Strickland
With a new introduction by William Kittredge
2001. 6 x 9 inches. 288 pages. Illustrations. Glossary.
ISBN 0-87071-495-3. Paperback, $19.95.
Table of Contents
Introduction
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Dusting off his tape recorder for this companion volume to his popular
River Pigs and Cayuses, Ron Strickland focuses on Washington, his adopted home. In
Whistlepunks and Geoducks,Strickland introduces readers to a remarkable group of storytellers, from old-timers to new arrivals.
In searching for people whose stories would add up to a portrait of the Evergreen State, Strickland discovered a region as alive with folklore as it is with natural beauty. Ranchers and wheat farmers, fishers and loggers, Indians and city folk, saloonkeepers and Prohibition agents, oystermen and hippies, and, naturally, whistlepunks and geoduck hunters all rub elbows on the streets and trails of Strickland's Washington state. The author provides a helpful glossary to local terms and adds an index to names, places and livelihoods. Black and white photographs from both personal and archive collections allow the reader to see as well as hear the storytellers.
In his introduction, William Kittredge notes that part of the joy of listening to these spirited oral histories lies in experiencing the subject's use of work-place lingo. The pickaroon, for example, is a pike pole used to break up log jams, while the long two-person saws are caller misery whips or Swedish fiddles. "We hunger for stories about specific worlds, and the particularities of making a go of things," Kittredge writes. "We search them for clues about how we might make our own efforts succeed."
"A rich and fascinating portrait of Washington life...(Strickland's) quiet introduction weaves the narratives together in a powerful harmony of memory, reflection, and wisdom."
--The Seattle Times
"Memory, experience, and the narrative urge are the raw materials which novelists, poets, entertainers, and balladeers carve and burnish into rich gems of invention. I believe that at its best nothing can surpass the warmth and drama of a single voice speaking directly to us of the things which matter...Our impersonal age cries out for this balm, the healing touch of words, the storyteller's art."
--Ron Strickland
About the Author
Ron Strickland is the founder of the Pacific Northwest Trail, which stretches 1,200 miles from Glacier national Park in Montana to Washington's Olympic National Park. His newest book,
The Pacific Northwest Trail Guide, was recently published by Sasquatch Books. His other books include
Shank's Mare: A Compendium of Remarkable Walks and oral histories of Texas, Vermont, and Alaska. He lives in Seattle, Washington.
William Kittredge's latest book is
The Nature of Generosity.
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