THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2019 // 19
BOOKMONGER
Scholarly history shares real-world lessons
In Defense
of Wyam
Katrine Barber
UW Press — 248 pp
$24.95
Tommy Thompson, who
wasn’t enrolled with area res-
ervations, and so wasn’t cov-
ered by the agreements the
tribal governments negoti-
ated with the U.S. govern-
ment concerning the dam-
ming of that portion of the
river. Flora, much younger
than her husband, was his
tireless spokesperson, advo-
cating on behalf of saving
Celilo Village, the longstand-
ing home of the Chief and his
people.
Martha McKeown was
the descendant of a prom-
inent white pioneer fam-
ily. She was a writer and an
active member of the Daugh-
ters of the American Rev-
olution and other wom-
en’s groups. McKeown used
those connections and pushed
her organizations to move
beyond more conventional
women’s clubs activities and
to advocate for the preserva-
tion of Celilo Village.
The collaboration that
these two women engaged in
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
“In Defense of Wyam:
Native-White Alliances & the
Struggle for Celilo Village”
is written by a university pro-
fessor and published by an
academic press. It is wrapped
in an unassuming gray cover.
And if, despite that lacklus-
ter fi rst impression, a reader
does crack the book open, the
fi rst thing he or she will con-
front is a rather dry “Note on
Terminology and Sources.”
In short, there is no
attempt to sell this to the gen-
eral public.
And yet, this book —
through its patient scholar-
ship and quietly delivered but
perceptively wrought obser-
vations — presents some
truly eye-opening perspec-
tives on cultural practices and
historical events that continue
to have an impact on our
society and the landscape we
live in today.
Author Katrine Barber is
a history professor at Port-
land State University. Her
previous book, “The Death
of Celilo Falls,” chronicled
the impacts that the mid-
20th century construction of
The Dalles Dam had on both
Native American and pre-
dominantly white commu-
nities that lined that previ-
ously dynamic stretch of the
Columbia River known as
Celilo Falls.
More than a decade later
her new book, “In Defense
of Wyam,” follows up with
a more particular focus on
two of the key players who
were involved in the fi ght to
preserve the homes of Cel-
ilo Village, an ancient fi shing
village along the river that
had the distinction of being
Oregon’s oldest continuously
inhabited site.
The advocates behind this
effort were two women.
Flora Thompson was the
wife of elderly Wyam Chief
Live
Presents
might not have been success-
ful at stopping the building
of the dam, Barber writes,
but it did create an import-
ant mid-20th century legacy
of cross-cultural social and
intellectual networks.
The author acknowledges
that sometimes “[n]ative peo-
ples and their white allies
spoke past one another on
issues of place, sovereignty,
and entitlement” and that
“these networks too often
were built on irreconcilable
notions of the region,” but it
is worth noting that together
they gave voice to concerns
about federal policies con-
cerning assimilation and dis-
placement of Native tribes,
and likewise to the environ-
mental consequences and
cultural costs of federal infra-
structure projects that dras-
tically revised the landscape
Enchanting soprano
trio singing classical &
contemporary music.
mon cause.
The Bookmonger is Bar-
bara Lloyd McMichael,
who writes this weekly col-
umn focusing on the books,
authors and publishers of the
Pacifi c Northwest. Contact
her at bkmonger@nwlink.
com
Crossword Answers
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B W I
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A R N I T
M O O T H
COASTER THEATRE PLAYHOUSE
Sponsored by:
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Janet Furfiord in
Memory of
Don Furfiord
Adella Hougan
Memorial Donations
Ceclia Seaman
SUNDAY
ViVA
and its ecology.
Thompson and McKeown
may have lost some import-
ant fi ghts, but this book
asserts it is worth knowing
that environmental interests,
women’s political ambitions,
and Native sovereignty his-
torically intersected in com-
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