The Last Wilderness: A History of the Olympic Peninsula

I've read most of Murray Morgan's popular history books on the Pacific Northwest, and this often-overlooked gem stands out for me. Morgan is most frequently remembered for his tremendously popular history of Seattle, Skid Road, or for his magnum opus Puget's Sound, a thicker and more "academic" treatment of Tacoma's birth and growth. But The Last Wilderness showcases Morgan's strengths as a storyteller even better than Skid Road, with great characters and rousing tales as grist: Iron John, carrying a cast-iron stove over his shoulder up to his homestead; the rough and tumble of early Grays Harbor, where bodies washed up with the morning tide from nights in the saloons over the piers; the eccentric and idealistic Wobblies, anarchists, and utopians that collected in this corner of the country; Teddy Roosevelt stumping the peninsula for environmental conservation -- to crowds of lumbermen! -- enraged at the timber practices he witnessed. I've hardly read a book that's a more robust slice of life than this.

After many years of wanting to go there, I recently "discovered" the Olympic Peninsula while on a get-away vacation. I also heard about this book and after reading it, I have to give it a qualified thumbs up. Reading this book would have been somewhat bewildering and a little tedious before I traveled to the Olympic Peninsula. Having made the trip before reading the book gave me a basis upon which to appreciate the writing. There are some very interesting and even disturbing stories in here, from the fantastic to the bizarre and the terrible. For anyone interested in a behind the scenes look at one of the most fascinating and beautiful places in America, this book is a must-have. The writing is generally excellent and very readable and the organization is sound and chronologically logical. There are some poignant descriptions of life in earlier times and a rousing look at turn of the century logging practices. On the down side, the discourse on modern resource extraction activities is a bit long-winded and the book concludes with a rather disjointed short chapter which I am still trying to place in the larger context. Overall, a good read and of definite local interest.