Eminent Astorians marks the bicentennial of Astoria in 2011. Each of nine essays presents a literary biography of a figure who looms large in Astoria's history, from Comcomly, the powerful, one-eyed leader of the Chinook Tribe when Lewis and Clark arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River in 1805, to the "Salmon Kings" who capitalized on the region's natural bounty from the 1870s to the 1910s. Modeled after Lytton Strachey's literary portraits in Eminent Victorians, these essays are interpretive, engaging, and rich in context. The authors are among the best known and most respected writers and scholars in the Northwest. Stephen Dow Beckham, distinguished historian at Lewis and Clark College, contributed a comprehensive introduction and served as the book's historical advisor. Scholars as well as travelers and lay readers interested in the Pacific Northwest will enjoy the biographical storytelling and gain insights into Astoria's history as they trace the lives of these quintessential Oregonians. Essays include "Comcomly: Chinook Nation CEO" by John Terry; "John Jacob Astor I: 'A Most Excellent Man?'" by Robert Michael Pyle; "George Gibbs" by Stephen Dow Beckham; "Ranald MacDonald and Astoria" by Frederik L. Schodt; "Captain George Flavel and the Building of Astoria" by William F. Willingham; "Bethenia Angelina Owens Adair" by Jean M. Ward; "Silas Bryant Smith" by Stephen Dow Beckham; "Molding Astoria--The Role of Two Editors" by Sandra Haarsager; and "The Salmon Kings" by Liisa Penner.

Eminent Astorians

Biographies & Memoirs

Pyle, Robert Michael

Kirtley, Karen

Terry, John

Beckham, Stephen Dow

Ward, Jean M.

Historical

Oregon State University Press

In 1993, the New Yorker published Calvin Trillin's memorable article on the eccentric Flavel family of Astoria, the descendants of Captain George Flavel, whose ornate Queen-Anne-style mansion is a tourist draw today. With Trillin's gracious consent, "First Family of Astoria" is reprinted in Part One of Astorians, Eccentric and Extraordinary, making its first appearance in book form. 
Part Two carries on the theme with portraits of fifty-five other notable Astorians. Five Oregon writers have captured the essence and the flavor of vivid personalities that include the notorious shanghaier Bridget Grant; the charming scoundrel Mayor Francis Clay Harley; the elusive English "barmaid" Jane Barnes, the first white woman in the Pacific Northwest; and Rolf Klep, who believed he could create a major maritime museum in an economically depressed town--and made it happen. 
In biology, it is said that the richest life forms reside at the edge of the ecosystem. Astoria epitomizes edges--the edge of the country, the edge of a great river, the edge of the Pacific Ocean, and the edge of our American culture. This book celebrates the larger-than-life quality that has appeared with regularity in the town's two-hundred-year history. As Steve Forrester, publisher of the Daily Astorian, notes in the book's introduction: "Extraordinary people are not necessarily eccentric. But eccentrics are driven to do extraordinary things." Contributors include M. J. Cody, Amy Hoffman Couture, John E. Goodenberger, Nancy Ricker Hoffman, Liisa Penner, and Calvin Trillin.

Astorians, Eccentric and Extraordinary

TRILLIN, Calvin

Cody, M. J.

Goodenberger, John E.

Penner, Liisa

Alma Rose Wien 1906 - Auschwitz 1944

Arts & Photography

Newman, Richard

Music

Weidle Verlag GmbH

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