Oregon State University Press

For fifty years, Oregon State University Press has been publishing exceptional books about the Pacific Northwest—its people and landscapes, its flora and fauna, its history and cultural heritage. The Press has played a vital role in the region’s literary life, providing readers with a better understanding of what it means to be an Oregonian. Today, Oregon State University Press publishes distinguished books in several academic areas from environmental history and natural resource management to indigenous studies.

Showing 101-120 of 415 items.

Same River Twice

The Politics of Dam Removal and River Restoration

Oregon State University Press

Dam removal wasn’t a realistic option in the twentieth century, and people who suggested it were dismissed as fringe environmentalists. Over the past twenty years, dam removal has become increasingly common, with dozens of removals now taking place each year in the US. Same River Twice tells the stories of three major Northwestern dam removals – the politics, people, hopes, and fears that shaped three rivers and their communities. Brewitt begins each story with the dam’s construction, shows how its critics gained power, details the conflicts and controversies of removal, and explores the aftermath as the river re-established itself.
 

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The Eclipse I Call Father

Essays on Absence

Oregon State University Press

In The Eclipse I Call Father: Essays on Absence, David Axelrod recalls a balmy night in May 1970 when he vowed to allow no one and nothing he loves to pass from this life without praise, even if it meant praising the most bewildering losses. In each of these fourteen essays Axelrod delivers on that vow as he ranges across topics as diverse as marriage, Japanese poetry, Craftsman design, Old English riddles, racism, extinction, fatherhood, mountaineering, predatory mega-fauna, street fighting, trains, the Great Depression, and the effects of climate change—accretions of absence that haunt the writer and will likewise haunt readers.
 

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Governing Oregon

Continuity and Change

Oregon State University Press

Governing Oregon presents a broad and comprehensive picture of Oregon government and politics as we approach the start of the third decade of the twenty-first century, shedding light on the profound changes that have remade Oregon politics in recent years. The book also seeks to make it clear that much has also remained the same. The editors of this collection have relied upon leading scholars from six different Oregon universities, current and former state leaders in Oregon’s executive and judicial branches, and individuals involved in tribal government and policymaking to tell the ongoing story of government in Oregon.
 

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Salmon is Everything

Community-Based Theatre in the Klamath Watershed

Oregon State University Press

First published in 2014, Salmon Is Everything explores a devastating fish kill on the Klamath River by way of a dramatic play (which forms the basis of the book) and Indigenous commentary on that play. It is a unique interdisciplinary resource for high school and college level courses in environmental studies, Native American studies, and theatre arts education. New materials in this second edition include additional essays by Native faculty and actors, an updated introduction by the author, minor textual corrections throughout, and a new online resource guide.

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Giving Back

Research and Reciprocity in Indigenous Settings

Edited by R. D. K. Herman
Oregon State University Press

This book addresses the critical question of reciprocity in the research process, especially (though not exclusively) in regard to working with Indigenous Communities.  This transdisciplinary collection is edited by geographer R.D.K. Herman of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, and includes essays by a wide variety of international practitioners at various stages of their careers, from several different countries.

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Raw Material

Working Wool in the West

Oregon State University Press
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Wild Migrations

Atlas of Wyoming's Ungulates

Oregon State University Press

The migrations of Wyoming’s hooved mammals—mule deer, pronghorn, elk, and moose—between their seasonal ranges are some of the longest and most noteworthy migrations on the North American continent. Wild Migrations presents the previously untold story of these migrations, combining wildlife science and cartography. Facing pages cover more than 50 migration topics, ranging from ecology to conservation and management, enriched by visually stunning graphics and maps, and an introductory essay by Emilene Ostlind.
 

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Grit and Ink

An Oregon Family’s Adventures in Newspapering, 1908–2018

Oregon State University Press

Beneath the 24/7 national news cycle and argument over “fake news,” there is a layer of journalism that communities absolutely depend upon. Grit and Ink offers a rare look inside the financial struggles and family dynamic that has kept a Pacific Northwest publishing group alive for more than a century. The newspapers of the Aldrich-Forrester-Bedford-Brown family depict the histories of towns like Pendleton, Astoria, John Day, Enterprise, and Long Beach, Washington. Written by noted historian William Willingham, Grit and Ink describes threats presented by the Ku Klux Klan, the Great Astoria Fire of 1923, the Great Depression, the Aryan Nation, the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation, the Digital Revolution, and more.

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Ellie's Strand

Exploring the Edge of the Pacific

By M. L. Herring; From an idea by Judith L. Li
Oregon State University Press
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A Deadly Wind

The 1962 Columbus Day Storm

Oregon State University Press

A Deadly Wind is a deeply researched historical account of the most powerful non-tropical windstorm to ever strike the West Coast: The Columbus Day Storm of October 12, 1962, which plowed a path of destruction from the Bay Area to British Columbia. Veteran journalist John Dodge tell stories of tragedy and heroism, loss and resilience, while drawing connections to climate science and more contemporary calamities, such as Superstorm Sandy.
 

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Sagebrush Collaboration

How Harney County Defeated the Takeover of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge

Oregon State University Press

Sagebrush Collaboration examines the militia occupation of Harney County, Oregon, and the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016. The book concludes that the militants failed in their objectives in large part because Harney County’s citizens invested decades in building the capacity to collaboratively solve the very problems the militia claimed justified an anti-federal government revolution.
 

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Son of Amity

Oregon State University Press
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Beyond the Rebel Girl

Women and the Industrial Workers of the World in the Pacific Northwest, 1905-1924

Oregon State University Press

Beyond the Rebel Girl is a study of the women associated with the Industrial Workers of the World in the states of Oregon and Washington, from the time of the union’s founding in 1905 until 1924. Many women were drawn to the IWW for its radical vision and inclusionary policies. The union offered women an avenue for activism that did not focus primarily on the fight for suffrage. While female Wobblies were in favor of suffrage, they believed that organization in the workplace was the only way to true emancipation.

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Words Marked by a Place

Local Histories in Central Oregon

Oregon State University Press

Words Marked by a Place is a book of interconnected essays engaging from different angles the history and lore of Central Oregon, and reflecting on and exemplifying the theory and practice of local history.

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Beginner's Luck

Dispatches from the Klamath Mountains

Oregon State University Press

A clueless big-city guy, dropped out from newspaper work, ends up at a new hippie commune in the mountains in the late 1960s, but his luck holds. As he falls in love with the place, he moves into the local community, where people have a checkered opinion of hippies, but it’s the kind of place where people help each other out, even if they don’t always agree.
 

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The Troubled Life of Peter Burnett

Oregon Pioneer and First Governor of California

Oregon State University Press

Peter Burnett, Oregon pioneer and governor of California, had one of the most impressive resumes of any early leaders in the American West, yet failed at most of his pursuits.  A former slaveholder, he could never seem to get beyond his single-minded goal of banning blacks and other minorities from the West.
 

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All Coyote's Children

Oregon State University Press

Annie and her son Riley are devastated by the loss of Riley’s father Jack, who has disappeared into an Eastern Oregon wilderness. Together with their Native and non-Native neighbors on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, they uncover the stories that help them solve the mystery of Jack’s disappearance as they become part of this community.
 

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Kaiaulu

Gathering Tides

Oregon State University Press

This book shares stories of Hawaiian fishing families on the rural north east shore of island of Kauaʻi, a place many visit but few really see, inviting readers to think about how we all can be connected to and by place, along with the responsibilities this connection carries.  This book offers teachings for living in conscious relationships with the natural world, without letting our desire for connection devour the places we love and the communities who are their keepers.
 

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Penguins in the Desert

Oregon State University Press

Every year, hundreds of thousands of Magellanic penguins gather to breed at Punta Tombo, Argentina, along a windswept edge of the Patagonian desert, and for more than three decades, biologist Dee Boersma has joined them. Penguins in the Desert follows both the penguins and Boersma through a season of their remarkable lives. 

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Homing Instincts

Oregon State University Press

Homing Instincts is a collection of personal essays that explores the ways we define “home” at different stages of our lives. Based on pivotal moments in the author’s life in New York City and Oregon, Homing Instincts bridges the gap between where we are and the stories we tell ourselves about where we think we belong.

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