Skid Road: An Informal Portrait of Seattle [B1059]

1988 PB reprint of the 1951 original, with wear and extensive underlining. Skid Road tells the story of Seattle 'from the bottom up,' offering an informal and engaging portrait of the Emerald City's first century, as seen through the lives of some of its most colorful citizens. With his trademark combination of deep local knowledge, precision, and wit, Murray Morgan traces the city's history from its earliest days as a hacked-from-the-wilderness timber town, touching on local tribes, settlers, the lumber and railroad industries, the great fire of 1889, the Alaska gold rush, flourishing dens of vice, and the 1919 general strike, and the tumultuous politics of city and state that have made history in the Northwest. Through it all, Morgan shows us that Seattle's one constant is change and that its penchant for reinvention has always been fueled by creative, if sometimes unorthodox, residents. "No one who has ever written Pacific Northwest history can match Murray Morgan's craftmanship, the signal virtues of which are pace, precision, humor, and a keen eye for the characterizing detail." -Norman Clark, Pacific Northwest Quarterly. "Mr. Morgan's book is the sort of corrective history that all communities should welcome." -Stewart Holbrook, New York Herald Tribune.

From Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "A now somewhat dated outstanding history of the first century of Seattle history, with a focus on the characters who built themselves up from the bottom half of society to become city leaders. It's a LOT of inside pool, kind of lacking a critical eye at times. The pioneers who built Seattle were really a mix. Kind of random folks who showed up and took charge. This book is about that."; "Interesting read on Seattle history. Follows the different troublemakers that took Seattle from a pioneer town to a major metropolis. Crazy anecdotes and some humor, learned a lot about the history of the city. Was quite dry for some spells though."; "A concise and insightful local history of the first 100 years of Seattle, with some touches of magic."