Rethinking Home: A Case forWriting LocalHistory By JosephA. Amato University of California Press, Berkeley, 2002. Maps, notes, bibliography, index. 261 pages. $48.00 cloth, $18.95 paper. EasternOregon Books and Print:An Annotated and Historical Bibliography ByWayne Kee Paunina Press, Prineville, 2001. Photographs, illustrations, index. 247 pages. $20.00 paper. Illahe: The StoryofSettlementin the Rogue RiverCanyon ByKayAtwood Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, 2002. Photographs, maps, notes, bibliography, index. 254 pages. $18.95 paper. TheMystery of theBlue BucketGold By B.F. and Claire Laurance Self-published, 2001; available through Xlibris, www.xlibris.com. Photographs, maps, bibliography. 123 pages. $17.84 paper, $8.00 e-book. TheApplegate Trail of 1846: A Documentary Guide to the Original SouthernEmigrantRoute toOregon ByWilliam Emerson Ember Enterprises, Box 1343, Ashland, Ore., 97520,1996. Photographs, illustrations, maps, bibliography, glossary, appendices. 158 pages. $19.95 paper. LookingBack atWallowa Lake: A PhotographicPortrait Edited byMark Highberger Bear Creek Press, Wallowa, Ore., 2001; www.eoni.com/~highberg/ bear_creek_press, 800-355-2554. Photographs, map. 83 pages. $17.95 paper. In Pursuit of the McCartys By Jon M. and Donna McDaniel Skovlin Reflections Publishing Co., Cove, Ore., 2001. Photographs, maps, notes, bibliography, index. 358 pages. $29.95 hardback, $19.95 paper. Reviewed by Richard H. Engeman Oregon Historical Society,Portland Historians, notes Joseph Amato inRethink ing Home, delineate regions in various ways. "Allhistorians to a degree both record and inventpasts and presents forpeople, places, re gions, and nations. They aremakers ofplace and home" (p. 14). Historians of macro-regions ? Amato uses the example of theAmerican West and the NewWestern historians ? arepreoccu piedwith creating"moralnarratives" thatencom pass an understanding of such ideas as thespread ofdemocracy,nation-building,and new economic and industrialorders ? narratives thatexamine transformationsinboth societyand nature. "Lo calitiesandmicro-regions become forgottenstars Reviews 139 in the movement of such immense heavens," writes Amato. We need a senseofplace, however, if we are to connect ourselves with whirling new economic and industrial orders, to comprehend how we and theplace where we are both fit themodels and remain distinctive and understandable. Us ing examples from rural southwesternMinne sota, where he is a professor of rural and re gional studies at Southwest StateUniversity in Marshall, Amato breathes lifeinto the idea that localhistory isboth socially relevantand intellec tually stimulating.He argues compellingly that local historians should look beyond theirusual concerns and thattheyshould examine a variety ofunstudied or understudied aspects of life,in cluding sounds, literature and folklore,anger and other strong emotions, madness, and what he calls the "clandestine." He also encourages local historians to spendmore timeon a locale's basic physical aspects ? its plants, waters, and animal life ? and todocument how the massive changes inecosystems through theconversion of land to agriculture and the transition from local econo mies toglobal ones affectlocal communities. Amato suggests that local historians mine some neglected sources, such as the records of asylums and prisons, prose, poetry, song, and legends and tales; and he isright todo so.Curi ously, he does not, at least inRethinkingHome, include photographs, artwork, maps, or any graphicmaterials among his resources. This is especially curious when one realizes how essen tialvisual evidence canbe indefiningand explain ing locale and region. Ihave never been to south western Minnesota, and I do not have a visual grasp of thearea.As a consequence, I foundmy selfgoing to Web sites to seewhat the town of Pipestone looked likeandwhat pipestone was in order tomake sense ofAmato's essay "The Red Rock: InventingPeoples and Towns." Amato's innovativeideas about regional stud ies ? particularly the studies of rural areas ? was the impetus fortakinga look at a number of recent local history publications thatdeal with rural areas in Oregon. Perhaps themost unusual work is Wayne Kee's Eastern Oregon Books and Print, an old fashioned annotated bibliography of thekind that has nearly disappeared in thepast two decades. Nothing like ithas been done before forthearea, and easternOregon is a region thathas seen a steadygrowth in interestamong historians. The rising tourist appeal of such areas asWallowa Lake and Steens Mountain and the explosive population growth in centralOregon have also raised the levelof interestin local history there. The book identifiesand,more importantly,de scribes dozens ofworks that can easily escape historians' notice, and Iwill certainly keep it around forreference. Nonetheless, itsuffers from editing...