Trask

by Don Berry

Book Overview

Set in 1848 on the wild edge of the continent, in the rain forests and rugged headlands of the Oregon coast Trask follows a mountain man's quest for new opportunities and new land to settle. The OSU Press is proud to reissue Berry's celebrated first book, considered one of the finest historical novels of the American West.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0870710230
• ISBN13: 9780870710230
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Oregon State University Press
• Length: 1 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.2" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

excellent seller!!!

the book is totally new! Price is reasonable! Shipping is a little bit slow! Overall, great quality!

A Gem of a Book

Once you start reading the lyric prose, you won't be able to put this book down. It is a magical adventure of the Oregon coast a long time ago, but the story is timeless and uplifting. All Westerners should read it.

HISTORY BROUGHT ALIVE

I WAS A PERSONAL FRIEND OF DON BERRY AT THE TIME HE WAS PUBLISHED. HE WAS, IN FACT, MY SON'S GODFATHER. DON WAS ONE OF THE MOST INTELLIGENT AND SCIENTIFICALLY DEDICATED MEN I'VE EVER KNOWN, AND WAS BLESSED WITH A GREAT SENSE OF HUMOR, (AND GREAT PATIENCE WITH MY OWN "GROANER" PUNS AND TURNS OF PHRASES!). "TRASK" WAS ONE OF THE FIRST WELL-RESEARCHED WORKS OF HISTORICAL FICTION TO BE USED AS TEXTBOOK MATERIAL FOR THE OREGON PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM IN THE SEVENTIES. BERRY'S WORK ON THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FUR TRADE ("ALL OF THEM SCOUNDRELS")WAS EXCELLENT AND COMPREHENSIVE. HIS GREAT WESTERN TALE "MOONTRAP" WAS OUTRIGHT STOLEN AND PRODUCED UNDER THE SAME TITLE IN AN EPISODE OF THE OLD WESTERN TV SHOW "RAWHIDE" DON AND HIS FAMILY LIVED ON THE OREGON AND WASHINGTON COAST FOR YEARS, OFTEN SUMMERING (YES, THE WHOLE SUMMER, RAIN AND ALL!)IN A TENT IN PRIMITIVE, BUT BEAUTIFUL SETTINGS. HE WAS A MAN WHO KNEW WHAT HE WROTE ABOUT, AND OFTEN EXPERIENCED THE PHYSICAL LIVING SITUATIONS PORTRAYED IN HIS BOOKS (YES, HE WAS THE KIND TO LIVE IN A TREE JUST TO SEE WHAT IT WAS LIKE!). IF THERE WERE, FOR EXAMPLE, SOMEONE WHO KNEW ABOUT DRYING A WOOL BLANKET OVERNIGHT UNDER WET CONDITIONS, HE WOULD HAVE KNOWN. MY OWN READINGS RE. THE ETHNOBOTANY OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST FOUND NO GREAT DISPARITIES IN THE NAMES AND OLDTIME USES OF LOCAL PLANTS THAT WERE INCLUDED IN BERRY'S BOOKS.

"...best novel ever written & set in Oregon." Glen Love

"...Trask, is ground breaking in its combination of historical research, real-life characters and settings, and Eastern philosophy. It is also a rip-roaring adventure story that Glen Love, a leading scholar of NW literature at U of O... [says is] the best novel ever written and set in Oregon." REED magazine Feb. 1999