Customer Reviews

Skid Road: An Informal Portrait of Seattle

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Skid Road by Murray Morgan has become somewhat of a classic in the Seattle area, where having read it is basically an indication that you know something about the history of the city.

The book itself is not really what many people would refer to as a history book, however. The subtitle says it all: "an informal portrait." While the book can be read and enjoyed with little or no knowledge of Seattle history, this is a book that's best read for the purpose of providing vivid color to one's understanding of the history of the city. If you're looking for a traditional history with lots of data, maps, and so forth there are better places to begin.

But as a work of literature this is a wonderful book. Morgan is an amazing writer and storyteller, and Skid Road serves as a wonderful example of what local history writing can be. If you have a strong appreciation of quality writing this book will hold your attention even if you have no interest in Seattle.

This is the consensus choice among local historians and writers for the best history of Seattle's founding, and it deserves to be. Morgan's portraits of pioneers like Doc Maynard and Arthur Denny are exhilirating and informative, and the book reads like a collection of excellent short stories rather than a dry recollection. If you are familiar with Seattle, this will change the way you look at Pioneer Square and the waterfront, but a knowledge of the city is not necessary to enjoy these stories of a city's establishment and maturation.

Murray Morgan was obviously an historian, and it is clear from his writing that he loved the N.W. This was no, "romance" novel, but a great narritive history of the beginnings of Seattle. I found it inviting, informative, engaging and on several occasions I laughed aloud at the humor of the character and writer as well. It was a joyfully and vividly written portrayal of Seattle's first 100 years and I loved it!

What I do not like about the book is that it focusses a little too much on the political history of the town rather than on the people who made up the population. A little time was spent on the initial Chinese American population, but more time could have been spent on those and other immigrant cultures that have historically made up the city.

Even so, it's still worth the effort. It is a fun read, and, though dated, it still kept me laughing unexpectedly over and over again.

This is the great popular history of Seattle. Learn about the pioneers behind the downtown streetnames: Denny, Stewart, Mercer, and more. Yes, there was history here before Grunge -- and it was even more earthy.

The colorful stories just don't stop: <li>the founding and abandonment of Alki (now West Seattle);</li> <li>the "Battle of Seattle," with the settlers hiding in a fort;</li> <li>Chief Sealth's myth and legacy;</li> <li>the Great Seattle Fire that burnt down Pioneer Square, and the landfill into the Sound that rebuilt it;</li> <li>how Seattle overtook Tacoma as the dominant city on Puget Sound by luring miners bound for the Yukon Gold Rush with the promise of "the best whorehouses north of San Francisco" and, of course, provisions for the trail and for prospecting;</li> <li>the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition on the University of Washington grounds, designed by the Olmstead Brothers (of Central Park fame);</li> <li>Seattle's mixed role in the anti-Chinese mob violence that swept up the Pacific coast in the 1880s;</li> <li>the outrageously mammoth public works projects sluicing Denny Hill flat, using the dirt for landfill on the waterfront, and creating the worlds largest man-made island in the harbor;</li> <li>the Seattle General Strike of 1919 that prompted a nation-wide red scare;</li>
and more and more and more.

It makes me breathless just to type this! A very enjoyable read, in a breezy story-telling style, Skid Road gives you more of a flavor of where Seattle came from in just a few hours than anything else.

... this is the one. I read this book the first time in 1981 after I moved (back) to Seattle, and have re-read it many times since. I had attended the 1962 World's Fair and had lived south of Tacoma for two years thereafter before leaving for 17 years, but didn't really know the area. No, this book is not the definitive history of Seattle, and I'm sure some (most?) of the city Fathers and Mothers don't think much of it, but it tells the story of how Seattle grew a soul. It's not only a story of place, but also a grand story of the odd men and women that made Seattle a place worth living in. If you can stand to read two books, read Bill Seidel's "Sons of the Profits." It covers roughly the same ground from a slightly different viewpoint by a writer with a slightly more twisted (and funny) view of things. With these two under your belt, you know almost all of the look/feel/taste of Seattle. Just sit down at an Ivar's and have some of his clam chowder (white, of course) and you've got the whole enchilada.

I read this about 30 years ago and it may be the only book that I still recommend on a regular basis. If you live in Seattle this book is as necessary as the Underground Tour, the Ballard Locks, Volunteer Park --- you don't know Seattle until you know about toilets not working at high tide before the fire.

And THEN, (especially if you live 40 miles south) read his later book, "Puget's Sound". This is an equally amazing history of Tacoma, complete with The Hudson Bay Company, treaties with the British, graft, corruption, Indian wars, European investment fraud, an Olmstead city plan (see New York's Central Park), and the Northern Pacific conquering Mount Rainier.

Tacoma liked Murray Morgan enough to name a bridge after him and, while the bridge is a constant source of contraversy, it's clear that Morgan knows this country.

Both are GREAT reads!

This is the great popular history of Seattle. Learn about the pioneers behind the downtown streetnames: Denny, Stewart, and more. Yes, there was history here before Grunge -- and it was just as earthy.

The colorful stories just don't stop: <li>the founding and abandonment of Alki (now West Seattle);</li> <li>the "Battle of Seattle," with the settlers hiding in a fort;</li> <li>Chief Sealth's myth and legacy;</li> <li>the Great Seattle Fire that burnt down Pioneer Square, and the landfill into the Sound that rebuilt it;</li> <li>how Seattle overtook Tacoma as the dominant city on Puget Sound by luring miners bound for the Yukon Gold Rush with the promise of "the best whorehouses north of San Francisco" and, of course, provisions for the trail and for prospecting;</li> <li>the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition on the University of Washington grounds, designed by the Olmstead Brothers (of Central Park fame);</li> <li>Seattle's mixed role in the anti-Chinese mob violence that swept up the Pacific coast in the 1880s;</li> <li>the outrageously mammoth public works projects sluicing Denny Hill flat, using the dirt for landfill on the waterfront, and creating the worlds largest island in the harbor;</li> <li>the Seattle General Strike of 1919 that prompted a nation-wide red scare;</li>
and more and more.

It makes me breathless just to type this! A very enjoyable read, in a breezy story-telling style, Skid Road gives you more of a flavor of where Seattle came from in just a few hours than anything else.

This is the very best book written on the history of Seattle. The "skid road" was a road that logs were skidded down to the Yesler mill, but later came to designate the hurdy-gurdy district which ran south from there (today's Pioneer Square district). The term "skid row" is a corruption.

I just loved this book. It was required to read for a History class. I couldn't put the book down. I read it in a weekend. I learned so much about Seattle, and the wild characters that help to create and establish Seattle. I never knew such people help to built Seattle.

Now I know The history behind the street names in seattle, and more about the history in Seattle that I would have never had know.

I'd love to read more books that this authors has written.