Illustration by Santiago Uceda

As winter ends, readers transition from overstuffed chairs bathed in lamplight to chaise lounges drenched in sunlight. One of summer’s purest delights is reclining poolside or riverside, lost in a well-told story. Books are also essential summer companions for travelers and trekkers, birders and explorers, scholars and thinkers.

OSU Press – Oregon’s only academic publisher – has released a number of intriguing titles in recent months, including several by Oregon State University faculty members. Consider the list below when planning your summer reading.

For a catalog and ordering information, see http://oregonstate.edu/dept/press/.

History and Social Science

Race and Science: Scientific Challenges to Racism in Modern America. Paul Farber and Hamilton Cravens. 2010.
Edited by Paul Farber, OSU Distinguished Professor of History of Science Emeritus, and Hamilton Cravens of Iowa State University, this is a collection of essays from leading voices in law, history, history of science, botany, and the social sciences exploring the roots of and the scientific challenges to racial essentialism – the notion that a person’s racial identity and characteristics define everything of importance about them. During the course of American history, scientific theories have been used to legitimate racial ideas that in turn have been important in creating and interpreting the law. These essays illuminate the roots of this belief and present case studies that explore how and why natural and social scientists have challenged these racist views.

The Environmental Justice: William O. Douglas and American Conservation. Adam M. Sowards. 2009.
From the late 1940s to the mid-1970s, American conservation politics underwent a transformation. Adam M. Sowards, a professor of history and the University of Idaho, tells the previously untold story of how Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas’s passion for nature helped to define the modern environmental movement in Oregon and the Northwest.

Cultural Studies

Mexicanos in Oregon: Their Stories, Their Lives. Erlinda V. Gonzales-Berry and Marcela Mendoza. 2010.
Erlinda Gonzales, professor and chair in OSU’s Department of Ethnic Studies before becoming director of Casa Latinos Unidos de Benton County, and Marcela Mendoza, interim director of Centro LatinoAmericano, shed new light on the stories and lives of mexicanos in Oregon: why migrants come to Oregon fields, construction sites, and warehouses; what their experiences are when they settle here; and how they adapt to life in the United States.

Massacred for Gold: The Chinese in Hell’s Canyon. R. Gregory Nokes. 2009.
In 1887, more than 30 Chinese gold miners were massacred on the Oregon side of Hells Canyon, the deepest canyon in North America. In the first authoritative account of the unsolved crime, former longtime editor of The Oregonian R. Gregory Nokes unearths the evidence that points to an improbable gang of rustlers and schoolboys as the killers.

Oregon and the Northwest

Another Way the River Has: Taut True Tales from the Northwest. Robin Cody. 2010.
A collection of the finest nonfiction by acclaimed author Robin Cody. “This remarkable Northwest book is a rare gift – worth owning and sharing,” says Craig Lesley, author of Burning Fence and Winterkill.

Eden Within Eden: Oregon’s Utopian Heritage. James J. Kopp. 2009.
Oregon has long been a destination for those seeking new beginnings. The state has been home to nearly 300 communal experiments, from the Aurora Colony to Rajneeshpuram. In the first book to survey Oregon’s utopian history, James Kopp of Lewis & Clark College tells the stories of religious and Socialist groups of the 19th century to ecologically conscious communities of the 21st century.

Sustainable Living

To the Woods:  Sinking Roots, Living Lightly, and Finding True Home . Evelyn Searle Hess. 2010.
The true story of Evelyn Searle Hess, who, in her late 50s, walked away from the world of modern conveniences to build a new life with her husband on 20 acres of wild land in the foothills of Oregon’s Coast Range. It is a tale of adventure, inspiration, and living life in concert with nature.

Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities. Jeff Mapes. 2009.
In a world of increasing traffic congestion, a grassroots movement is carving out a niche for bicycles on city streets. Jeff Mapes, a longtime reporter at The Oregonian, explores the growing bike culture that is changing the look and feel of cities, suburbs and small towns across North America.

Nature

Afield: Forty Years of Birding the American West. Alan Contreras. Illustrations by Ramiel Papish. 2009.
Eugene resident, birder and author Alan Contreras recounts his lifelong bird-watching experiences. Sprinkled with comments from ornithologists and early explorers of the West, the essays offer elements of natural history, personal memoir and adventure travel.

Oregon Fossils: Second Edition. Elizabeth L. Orr and William N. Orr. 2009.
This revised and expanded edition by William and Elizabeth Orr, director and collections manager of the Condon Collection at the Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon, includes a record of all known fossils in Oregon going back 400 million years, along with collecting localities by country, age, rock formation and published source.

To support the OSU Press, contact the OSU Foundation.

For those quiet evenings by the campfire, here are 17 recently published books that inform and inspire.

“I’ll never forget the day I read a book,” Jimmy Durante sang, with an aside: “My house is loaded with books. And believe me, they’re not just there for appearances: I’ve pressed an awful lot of butterflies!”

We hope you’ll let the butterflies stay on the flowers this summer and spend some time yourself in at least one book by an OSU faculty member. Here is a selection of recent titles released this year and last. Many are available in the OSU Bookstore and the Valley Library.

BIOGRAPHY
Hiding Man, A Biography of Donald Barthelme. Tracy Daugherty, Department of English; St. Martin’s Press, 2009
A beguiling and intimate portrait of an author who has been called the father of the American post-modern movement. Barthelme’s friendships with famous literary figures in Greenwich Village, his artful treatment of political controversies and tumultuous private life are explored eloquently by his former student.

ENVIRONMENT
Aquatic and Wetland Plants of Oregon: With Vegetative Keys. Richard R. Halse and La Rea J. Dennis, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology; Uncial Press, 2008.
For professionals and amateurs, aquatic and wetland plants are problematic to identify, because flowering is short and often unpredictable. For the botanist, naturalist, wetlands investigator or land manager facing a handful of wet greenery, this book address ferns, grasses, broadleaf herbs, shrubs and trees, and more, with drawings of characteristics to seek when flowers are absent.

In the Blast Zone: Catastrophe and Renewal on Mount St. Helens. Edited by Charles Goodrich and Kathleen Dean Moore, Department of Philosophy; Frederick J. Swanson, College of Forestry and US Forest Service; OSU Press, 2008
A cross-pollination of literary and scientific perspectives on cataclysm and on the durability of nature. Leading scientists and writers camped together on St. Helens, hiking, observing and discussing ideas, asking what this radically altered landscape can tell us about nature and how to live our lives. A beautiful and transforming collection of prose and poetry.

Living with Bugs: Least-toxic Solutions to Everyday Bug Problems. Jack DeAngelis, OSU Extension; OSU Press, 2009
What’s bugging you? The entomologist author wants to replace disgust or terror of common pests such as mosquitoes, ants, termites, yellowjackets and dust mites with an understanding of the critical roles they have in the Earth’s systems. While he argues only a few are potentially harmful, he doesn’t deny the annoyance factor. Gain practical strategies to manage pests to minimize their damage while not hurting anything else, including yourself.

Old Growth in a New World: A Pacific Northwest Icon Reexamined. Edited by Tom Spies, College of Forestry, and Sally Duncan, Institute for Natural Resources; Island Press, 2009
Spies and Duncan untangle the complexities of the old-growth forest and its management. Essays by ecologists, economists, sociologists, managers, historians, silviculturists, environmentalists, timber producers and philosophers offer perspectives on policy changes in the Pacific Northwest, including options for effective approaches to conservation.

Rachel Carson: Legacy and Challenge. Edited by Kathleen Dean Moore, Department of Philosophy, and Lisa H. Sideris, Indiana University; SUNY Press, 2008
Writers, activists and scholars from a range of disciplines uncover the many sides of Carson through her books, speeches, essays and letters she wrote in her final days. A testament to Carson’s continued influence on environmental thought, this volume is for everyone who cares about finding ways to live sustainably on Earth.

FEMINISM
God Speaks to Us, Too: Southern Baptist Women on Church, Home & Society. Susan M. Shaw, Women Studies Program, University Press of Kentucky, 2008
A sensitive study by an insider – Shaw was raised as a Southern Baptist – from a critical distance. She is the director and associate professor of OSU’s Women’s Studies Program and director of the Difference, Power, and Discrimination Program. To explore the social construction of gender within Baptist history, theology, and practice, she lets women in the highly patriarchal system speak for themselves.

Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings. Janet Lee and Susan M. Shaw, Women’s Studies Program; McGraw-Hill, 2007
This introductory women’s studies reader offers a wide range of classic, conceptual, and experiential writings, with over 105 selections. Chapter introductions provide background information on each topic, including explanations of key concepts and ideas. The anthology also offers pedagogical features designed to engage students in active learning.

FICTION
Northwest of Normal. John Larison, Department of English; Barclay Creek Press, 2009
This novel is set in a quirky Oregon mountain community of artists, loggers, dope growers, midwives and river guides in this century of drastic change. The main character is a passionate fly-fishing guide with a troubled past and an urgent quest. The fiction addresses real issues of personal growth, idealism, environmental awareness and violence.

HEALTH
Being Human: Relationships and You. Knud S. Larsen, Department of Psychology, Purdue University Press, 2008
Larsen argues that being human is defined by functional or dysfunctional interactions with others. Interpretation of recent research takes a critical stand toward the consequences of war and repression. Emphasized is the effect of culture in conceptions of the self, attraction, love, attitude formation, group membership, social influence, persuasion, hostile images, aggression and altruism, moral behavior and more.

Handbook of Self-Help Therapies. Patti Lou Watkins, Women Studies; Routledge, 2007
A guide for practitioners wending through the maze of self-help approaches. The Handbook summarizes current knowledge about what works and what does not, disorder by disorder and modality by modality. Among the topics: depression; eating disorders; sexual dysfunctions; insomnia; and problem drinking.

HISTORY (CULTURAL AND POLITICAL)
American Film: A History. Jon Lewis, Department of English; W. W. Norton & Company, 2008
A narrative summary addressing the intersection of artistry and economics in Hollywood cinema from the beginning to the present. Context is provided about business interests, content regulation and the often tense relationship between Hollywood and broader American culture. More than 250 images enliven the text.

Cesar Chavez and the Common Sense of Nonviolence. Jose-Antonio Orosco, Department of Philosophy; University of New Mexico Press, 2008
Chavez has been heralded for his nonviolent resistance against social, racial, and labor injustices. However, the works of Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King have overshadowed Chavez’s contributions to the theory of nonviolence. Orosco demonstrates how his distinct ideas are timely for dealing with today’s issues such as racism, sexism, immigration, globalization and political violence.

Medicine and Health Care in Early Christianity. Gary B. Ferngren, Department of History; Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009
Ferngren traces the process by which early Christians appropriated Greek secular medicine and created a system of medical philanthropy that culminated in the earliest hospitals, in which the sick for the first time enjoyed a preferential position that has been theirs ever since.

Old Deseret Live Stock Company: A Stockman’s Memoir. W. Dean Frischknecht, Department of Animal Sciences; Utah State University Press, 2008
In the Wasatch Mountains lies what’s left of one of the American West’s largest ranches. Deseret Live Stock Company, once the world’s biggest producer of sheep wool, also ran cattle, and in the mid-twentieth century, young Frischknecht became sheep foreman. He recounts how Deseret managed herds, lands and wildlife, and presents lively anecdotes about how stockmen and families lived and worked.

Readings in American Foreign Policy: Historical and Contemporary Problems. David Bernell, Department of Political Science; Longman Publishing Group, 2007
Both primary source documents and scholarly articles trace the recent evolution of America’s engagement with the world. Framing problems from multiple perspectives on how policy is made and who makes it, the selections survey the many challenges and opportunities facing the United States since it became a global power.

Treatise on slavery: selections from De instauranda Aethiopum salute. Alonso de Sandoval, edited and translated by Nicole von Germeten, Department of History; Hackett Publishing Company, 2009
A 1627 study of slavery in the colonial Americas described African ethnicities, languages and beliefs, and provided an expose of abuse. These previously untranslated selections, with notes providing cultural, historical, and religious context, are a resource for understanding the history of the African diaspora, slavery, the role of Christianity in the Spanish Empire, and early modern European concepts of race.