| Book Review | The Western Historical Quarterly, 36.2

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the WHQ online. About 261 words from this article are provided below; about 599 words remain.

If you are a individual subscriber to the Western Historical Quarterly, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a subscriber to the Western Historical Quarterly, you can:: • subscribe here.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Western Historical Quarterly (104.3-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Western Historical Quarterly.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The Western Historical Quarterly, 36.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Oregon's Promise: An Interpretive History. By David Peterson Del Mar. (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2003. 314 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $19.95, paper.)

Portland: People, Politics, and Power, 1851–2001. By Jewel Lansing. (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2003. xii + 576 pp. Illustrations, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. $29.95.)

Oregon's mythic past obscures a more complex, interesting history. Alert politicians conjure the myth and ignore the complexity, posturing as embodiments of "pioneering" virtue (forward-looking optimists). Portland's reputation for progressive urban planning builds on that foundation, and both of these authors embrace it. Jewel Lansing notes that Money Magazine recently recognized Portland as the country's "Most Livable City" (p. 466). David Peterson Del Mar extends that positivist analysis from Portland to the Willamette Valley, and, less notably, greater Oregon. His is the more thoughtful work, weaving common people into an engaging narrative, blending prose and imagery, but he suggests more than he delivers. Lansing's is a straightforward chronicle of ego-driven officials driving Portland's civic agendas. In a previous work examining the promise of the Oregon story, historian William G. Robbins observed that "history is ... an attempt to understand how our own cultural perceptions inform the way we view the past" (Landscapes of Promise [Seattle, 1997], 3). Del Mar's contribution is a particularly self-conscious case in point. Lansing's work is a less anguished example—an insider's view of city politics by an elected official and forty-two-year resident. Neither author transcends Oregon's mythic past, although Del Mar suggests a pragmatic, present purpose for its mostly undelivered promise.

. . .

There are about 599 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.