|
|
|||
|
||||
OverviewIn 1843, brothers Jesse, Lindsay, and Charley Applegate--accompanied by their wives and twenty-two children--led the first wagon train from Missouri to Oregon. By the end of the decade, the restless clan had left the ""crowded"" Willamette Valley and pointed their wagons toward Yoncalla in southern Oregon's Umpqua Valley. There, Charley built an immense two-story frame home--with one side for men, the other for women. A single fireplace, which opened toward both sides of the house, ensured that ""only the smoke was permitted to mingle."" The divided house in Yoncalla is at the heart of Shannon Applegate's Skookum, a powerful chronicle of her pioneer family. With the skill of a historian and the craft of a novelist, Applegate recounts the story of her family over several generations--the dreams, hardships, mysteries, and joys. Their experiences encompass many of the predominant historical themes of the early American West: the effects of the intermittent gold rushes, the troubled relations between settlers and Indians, the use of land and other natural resources. Yet Shannon Applegate looks beyond the well-known lives of the Applegate men, in whose honor were named a trail, a town, a river, and a mountain peak, to offer a more intimate history. Skookum gives voice to the women of the family, who, writes Applegate, ""as surely as certain stitches ... have held the generations together."" (""Skookum"" is Chinook jargon for ""strong, power, full of spirit."") Her female kin ""kept the time"" by cherishing and protecting the thousands of family letters, journals, recollections, manuscripts, sketchbooks, and photographs. Tied into neat bundles and stored for years in chests of aromatic cedar and Douglasfir, these family treasures infuse Skookum's narratives with the powerful presence of the past. Out of these richly detailed sources. Shannon Applegate has fashioned a compelling, imaginative saga that brings her extraordinary family and the emerging West dramatically to life. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Shannon ApplegatePublisher: Oregon State University Imprint: Oregon State University Dimensions: Width: 15.00cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 22.60cm Weight: 0.626kg ISBN: 9780870711190ISBN 10: 0870711199 Pages: 277 Publication Date: 30 October 2005 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Out of stock The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available. Table of ContentsReviewsThis history of the families of Jesse, Charles, and Lindsay Applegate, who open the way to the settlement of Oregon, is as important in its own way as the chronicles of the Adams family or the Beechers. It adds an important piece to our understanding of American families and how they work. """This history of the families of Jesse, Charles, and Lindsay Applegate, who open the way to the settlement of Oregon, is as important in its own way as the chronicles of the Adams family or the Beechers. It adds an important piece to our understanding of American families and how they work.""" Author InformationTab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |