Truth about Territory

This nonfiction anthology is the third in Owl Creek's series on contemporary Northwest writing (the first two were devoted to poetry and fiction). Included are 48 selections by 32 authors, the best of whichand there are manyare characterized by a sense of regional pride, nostalgia and sorrow. The charming and thoughtful volume offers a rich and panoramic view of the Northwest, its geography, climate, history, jargon and customs. Stories of wildlife abound, of deer and wolves, octopi and snakes, crows and swans. And of course, there are the peopleIndians, Eskimos, mill workers, miners, barmaids, trappers, rednecks and poets. Along with the many self-contained short essays, there are a number of enticing samples of longer works, like the excerpt from Barry Lopez's Arctic Dreams . Most of all, the writings reveal a sense of loss for a time and place now nearly subsumed by a mass-produced, plastic techno-homogenization: ``Sometime there may come to us in a depleted world, the old hunter's dream of plenty. . . . This, or its sometime shadow; the country dead, and nothing to see in the snow. Famine, and the great dream passing,'' writes John Haines in ``The Art of Pulling Hearts.'' That life of plenty, like these writings, is well worth saving, and savoring. (August)