Skid Road tells the story of Seattle �from the bottom up,� offering an informal and engaging portrait of the Emerald City�s first century, as seen through the lives of some of its most colorful citizens. With his trademark combination of deep local knowledge, precision, and wit, Murray Morgan traces the city�s history from its earliest days as a hacked-from-the-wilderness timber town, touching on local tribes, settlers, the lumber and railroad industries, the great fire of 1889, the Alaska gold rush, flourishing dens of vice, general strikes, the 1962 World�s Fair, and the stuttering growth of the 1970s and �80s. Through it all, Morgan shows us that Seattle�s one constant is change and that its penchant for reinvention has always been fueled by creative, if sometimes unorthodox, residents. With a new introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic Mary Ann Gwinn, this redesigned edition of Murray Morgan�s classic work is a must for those interested in how Seattle got to where it is today.
Seattle has, since the very beginning, and through every moment in its history, been a place where good heartful men come to lose all of their money and die. Every influential figure in the city's history has been cringe. It has always been run by corrupt and money-hungry politicians, lying and pocketed police, and corrupt unions which claimed to work for the people but, as always, made a very small number of people extremely rich, and these people in most cases never had to pay up for it. One thing that I did not expect to learn was the history of prostitution in Seattle. When I first moved to the city I was surprised by the brazenness and scale of the street walkers, and then I learned about the dozens/hundreds of not-so-secret brothels. Reading this book showed me that Seattle has always had a very large and public Hooker population/trade. Women being bought and sold is part of the city's history. Literal whores are the bedrock of Seattle culture. I hate the city more now after reading this book. The only based person in the history of Seattle was Marion Zioncheck and he killed himself because the city was so bad.
Description:
Skid Road tells the story of Seattle �from the bottom up,� offering an informal and engaging portrait of the Emerald City�s first century, as seen through the lives of some of its most colorful citizens. With his trademark combination of deep local knowledge, precision, and wit, Murray Morgan traces the city�s history from its earliest days as a hacked-from-the-wilderness timber town, touching on local tribes, settlers, the lumber and railroad industries, the great fire of 1889, the Alaska gold rush, flourishing dens of vice, general strikes, the 1962 World�s Fair, and the stuttering growth of the 1970s and �80s. Through it all, Morgan shows us that Seattle�s one constant is change and that its penchant for reinvention has always been fueled by creative, if sometimes unorthodox, residents. With a new introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic Mary Ann Gwinn, this redesigned edition of Murray Morgan�s classic work is a must for those interested in how Seattle got to where it is today.
Seattle has, since the very beginning, and through every moment in its history, been a place where good heartful men come to lose all of their money and die. Every influential figure in the city's history has been cringe. It has always been run by corrupt and money-hungry politicians, lying and pocketed police, and corrupt unions which claimed to work for the people but, as always, made a very small number of people extremely rich, and these people in most cases never had to pay up for it. One thing that I did not expect to learn was the history of prostitution in Seattle. When I first moved to the city I was surprised by the brazenness and scale of the street walkers, and then I learned about the dozens/hundreds of not-so-secret brothels. Reading this book showed me that Seattle has always had a very large and public Hooker population/trade. Women being bought and sold is part of the city's history. Literal whores are the bedrock of Seattle culture. I hate the city more now after reading this book. The only based person in the history of Seattle was Marion Zioncheck and he killed himself because the city was so bad.