Radicals in the Rose City, co-authored by Matt Nelson and Bill Nygren, and published by Northwest History Press, is a book comprised of myriad interviews and firsthand accounts regarding events, people and ideas throughout an extended period of cultural, societal and individual change in Portland. From the labor issues and newspaper strike of the early 1960s, to the movement for equal rights for women and gays that rose to the forefront of national consciousness in the latter half of the 60s and beyond, the book gives us a well-researched glimpse into this era of shifting norms and burgeoning idealism.
At its core, the book is a straightforward, objective account of important events between 1960 and 1975 interspersed with a wide array of relevant interviews and images. The writing is simple, efficient and clearly communicates the information at hand, though by the same token, somewhat detracts from the quality of the book in its simplicity. The ebb and flow of the text often comes across as too abrupt or too minimal, like a bare-bones recollection consisting of little to no linguistic embellishment whatsoever. This, unfortunately, gives the overall description of events an almost robotic consistency that doesn’t always make for an entertaining read in and of itself.
Furthermore, the book is riddled with minor grammatical and structural errors and omissions that could have, and should have, been easily spotted and fixed prior to publication. While these aggravations are prevalent throughout the entirety of the book’s 334 pages, it is the compilation of numerous interviews with a tremendous amount of varied sources thatredeem Radicals in the Rose City.
These interviews present us with invaluable and fascinating insight into the complexities of these morally and ideologically turbulent times from the perspective of various revolutionaries, including co-author Nygren, who passed away prior to the publication of the book. In 1966, he was the first Oregonian to resist the draft and subsequently served two and a half years in prison.
Portland State students and faculty may find the book’s coverage of the 1970 PSU student protest, which culminated on May 11, 1970 in a violent confrontation with riot police, of particular interest. The strike was inspired by the infamous Kent State shootings of May 4, 1970, in which the Ohio National Guard opened fire on unarmed student protesters, killing four and wounding nine, at Ohio’s Kent State University.
Despite its flaws, the book deserves praise for its attention to detail spanning over a decade’s worth of content and faithful preservation of sources over such a prolonged period. It’s no easy feat to condense such an immense amount of culturally and nationally significant material into a book, let alone remain objective in the depiction of the events described therein, but that is exactly what Nelson and Nygren managed to achieve. It is a testament to those who have fought for the changes that have served to shape our society today, and simultaneously a heartfelt message to us all to continue fighting inequality and corruption wherever it may surface.
Radicals in the Rose City is currently available to purchase directly from the publisher’s website, nwhistorypress.com, can be bought on eBay and is set to arrive in Powell’s book stores sometime in the near future.