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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2016
BOOKS
WHAT ARE THEY READING?
he Daily Astorian invites people to submit titles of
books they are reading and share a few thoughts
about the work. This week, Michael Morrissey, the
former director of Oregon State University’s Food
Innovation Center in Portland and Seafood Lab in
Astoria, shares some of his favorites. To submit, send
to news@dailyastorian.com
T
I
’m a big non¿ction
reader and like history
a lot, especially the bits
and pieces we never learned
in school. I Must ¿nished
“Empires of the Sea” by
Roger Crowley that covers
the wars of the Islamic Otto-
man Empire against Chris-
tian Spain, Venice (then an
independent state) and Italy
in the mid-16th century.
Most of the novel is centered
on three major events — the
battle for Rhodes in 1521, a
several month siege for the
island of Malta in 1565, and
the sea battle of Lepanto and
all the political maneuvering
in between.
It was thought at the time
that whoever controlled Malta
controlled the Mediterranean
and the trade that was greatly
expanding with the open-
ing of new spice routes to the
Far East. While the battles are
driven by economic power and
control of territory, the strong
religious overtones made the
¿ghting especially cruel and
violent.
Although these are not
direct parallels of what is now
occurring in the Middle East,
one can’t help but understand
how religious myopia has been
deep seated for centuries.
Crowley is a tremen-
dous writer and while one
would think a war fought over
decades and a siege that lasted
months would be a bit tedious,
he develops the characters
extremely well and brings out
little known history to life. And
what characters they are: from
the Knights of Malta, Barbary
pirates, Suleiman the Magnif-
icent, Charles V of Spain to
a supporting cast with names
like Barbarossa, Don Juan of
Austria and captains and sol-
diers who are larger than life in
their bravery and barbarity.
“Empires of the Sea” is a
page-turner and gives insight
to the human condition at the
time and the expanding geo-
political environment. Amaz-
ing stuff.
Lyndon Johnson
biography
Late at night, I often
reread parts of Robert Caro’s
biography of Lyndon John-
son. There are four volumes
(the ¿fth and ¿nal one to
come out later this year) and
my favorites are the second
volume, “Means of Ascent”
and the third volume , “Mas-
ter of the Senate”.
Johnson is such a complex
person who often believes that
the end justi¿es the means.
His maneuvering to get the
civil rights bill and social bills
passed in a conservative U.S.
Senate (with many south-
ern Democrats blocking past
legislation) is masterful and
we will probably never see
another politician like him in
our times.
Caro’s narrative of John-
son’s election to the Senate in
1948 (he won by 87 votes —
and thus one of his early nick-
names “landslide Johnson”) in
the second volume is one of
the best pieces of political lit-
erature I have ever read.
‘One Hundred Years of
Solitude’
I’m not much of a ¿ction
reader but had the great for-
tune to read “One Hundred
Years of Solitude” by Gabriel
Garcia Marquez when I was
Submitted Photo
Michael Morrissey is the former director of Oregon State University’s Food Innovation
Center in Portland and Seafood Lab in Astoria.
young (in the early 1970s) and
it did change how I thought
about the world.
Garcia Marquez is a
Colombian author who wrote
in a style called “magical real-
ism.” He has a way of inter-
weaving stories of everyday
life with fantasy that somehow
makes sense and leaves the
reader with wonderful images.
The book opened me to the
world of Latin America and its
diverse history, never-ending
battles between left and right
politics, with an overarching
theme of the strange twists of
fate that take your life into a
completely different direction
than you had planned.
The book focuses on ¿ve
generations of the Buendía
family, primarily Jose and his
wife, Ursula, who like mothers
everywhere is the rock-solid
anchor to surviving the chaos
that often surrounds us.
About four years after read-
ing this book, an opportu-
nity came up to work in Latin
America, and I headed south
of the border to begin my pro-
fessional and familial life. It
was a rich experience and a
direction that I couldn’t have
imagined several years before.
Brewer’s attempt to ease beer laws has opponents foaming
ies succeed with their endeav-
ors, but it should not happen at
their expense.”
Brewers,
retailers clash on
Prohibition-era
system
A Prohibition-era
provision
By JENNIFER
McDERMOTT
Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. —
Proclamation Ale Co., a small
Rhode Island brewery that’s
pushing to change the state’s
beer laws, recently received an
angry letter about its efforts.
In response, the brewer set
the letter on ¿re and posted
to Facebook a photo of him
holding the Àaming docu-
ment while Àanked by brew-
ery employees, with everyone
raising a middle ¿nger.
“It’s Proclamation,” said
Dave Witham, the primary
owner and brewer. “I thought
we should make a statement.”
The anonymous letter
appeared to be from a liquor
retailer, upset that Procla-
mation is urging lawmak-
ers to remove the limit on the
amount breweries can sell to
visitors on site for consump-
tion off premises.
AP Photo/Jennifer McDermott
Tom Pereira, tasting room manager at Proclamation Ale Co., fills a 32-ounce bottle of beer
for a customer to take home during the release of a new beer in West Kingston, R.I., in April.
Rhode Island allows for
72 ounces per visitor. Many
other states have a higher limit
or none at all. Among Rhode
Island’s neighbors, Connecti-
cut’s limit is 9 liters; Massa-
chusetts doesn’t have one.
The owners of Proclamation
in West Kingston, Rhode Island,
say that if the state’s breweries
could sell more beer directly to
consumers, they could afford
to hire more people and make
more beer to send to distributors
for the retailers, so every tier of
the system bene¿ts.
Some retailers, however, feel
that the current system works
well and protects the public.
And some worry that chang-
ing it could be bad for their
businesses.
The letter, which was post-
marked in Providence and
mailed to Proclamation in late
March, says, “Retailers are
happy to see small brewer-
The section of the law in
question dates to 1933, when
Prohibition was repealed. Under
a three-tiered system, manufac-
turers sell alcohol to distributors,
who, in turn, sell to retailers.
Lawmakers
introduced
bills this legislative session
to remove the 72-ounce limit,
arguing that Rhode Island needs
to modernize, support its brew-
eries and embrace beer tour-
ism. Democratic Rep. Joseph
Solomon, of Warwick, said he
thinks changing the law could
help retailers, since people who
like the beer at the brewery will
likely buy it in the future at their
local liquor store.
“It’s not taking away from
anyone,” he said. “It’s an easy
way to create jobs and boost
the economy.”
A lobbyist for indepen-
dent liquor retailers in Rhode
Island, Robert Goldberg, said
he’s working with lawmakers
on a compromise. The Rhode
Island Liquor Stores Associa-
tion declined to comment, cit-
ing the negotiations.
Some liquor retailers are
publicly supporting Proclama-
tion’s efforts.
Beer tourism
On Friday at Proclama-
tion, about 100 people lined
up outside the building for the
release of a new beer.
The ¿rst in line, Ryan
Lagace, said he went to the
brewery to try the new beer, but
he usually goes to breweries in
Massachusetts because he can
buy as much beer as he wants.
“Every time I go, I go out to
eat, buy gas, make other pur-
chases,” said the 32-year-old
resident of Burrillville, Rhode
Island. “You can take that beer
tourism and turn it into some-
thing pro¿table for the state,
not just the breweries.”
Proclamation opened in
2014. Witham said he’s hop-
ing Rhode Island lawmakers,
who often talk about the need
to create jobs, will support
changing the law so breweries
can grow.
Craft breweries in Rhode
Island have an annual eco-
nomic impact of about $160
million, which ranks 48th in
the nation, according to the
Brewers Association, which
advocates for craft brewers.
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