Washington: A Centennial History

by Robert E. Ficken, Charles P. LeWarne

From the authors' preface:
"This centennial history of Washington was commissioned in 1986. At that time, we were given a series of mandates. We were to avoid writing a textbook and to avail ourselves of up-to-date research and interpretation in the field of state history. The book was to be scholarly, yet appeal to the general reader. Working from an agreed-upon outline, we divided responsibility for drafting specific chapters. These chapter drafts were then exchanged and revised. The result is a collaborative account focusing on the major developments of the past century."

Genres: History

216 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

history of Washington state (Woo!)

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 2 out of 5]

A history acceptable only for its uniqueness. There just don't seem to be any more recent, exhaustive histories of Washington State. Why this is is beyond me. The earlier bits of this particular book are quite good and never get bogged down in too much nuance or detail. The labor history bits are nice also, highlighting the often radical, seat-of-your-pants/ass nature of Northwestern politics during the first part of the 20th century. It loses its steam, though, once World War 2 rolls around. The rest of the century is rushed through, with some name-dropping and very specific things (WPPS, for one) that don't really speak to the actual goings-on of the time. In fact, the book is now so dated, that its own authors still treated their subject as a wishy-washy backwater. Obviously written way before Nirvana and Pearl Jam and that stupid movie with Tom Hanks. No, not 'Bosom Buddies'. That was a TV show.