Thursday, January 29, 2009

I had an interesting thing happen to me. About a month ago (maybe even a month an a half) I was contacted by this woman named Corrine who had apparently seen my blog. She said she wasn't spam, and she worked for Turner Publishing Company. She said they were putting out a book on the history of Sonoma County, and would I be interested in having one and reviewing it for her on my humble little site? I thought this sounded like an amazing opportunity, so I agreed, sceptically wondering to myself if it was legit.

Well...I surely did receive a book in the mail. How about that, I thought, as I slipped off the business card she'd attached confirming that it was from Turner Publishing Company. Historic Photos of Sonoma County. It's a big, beautiful coffee table book, with amazing old black and white photos of our lovely county and how it grew into what it is today. I combed through it several times hoping I'd see a relative, as my family has quite a history in this area. Although I didn't recognize anyone, I certainly saw very familiar names and sites. It was wonderful to see what downtown Santa Rosa used to look like. I remember listening to my Aunt Ada talk about going to Rosenberg's to shop for clothing and yarn to make make her trademark slippers. Man, did those slippers hurt your feet...but that is beside the point.


The book doesn't just center on Santa Rosa. Every area of our fair county is touched upon. The text is written by Less Torliatt, a former teacher at Santa Rosa and Piner High Schools. He was also an editor and writer for not only The Press Democrat, and the Petaluma Argus-Courier, but also The San Francisco Chronicle. Torliatt discusses the span of time beginning with the 1850's, taking us through the devastation of the 1906 earthquake, the prohibition years, the prosperous times Sonoma County enjoyed after the completion of the Golden Gate Bridge, and ends with a discussion of how the county was affected by the war years.

I loved the photos! There's a great photo of Luther Burbank in there, with none other than Helen Kellor! Seems like we've welcomed many famous faces over the years. I thought the book was very interesting, and did a great job showing the true spirit of Sonoma County. I highly recommend it, and it is now out in book stores, so go check it out! With distressing news everywhere we turn, it was nice to be transported to a simpler time. It was also encouraging to see that although Sonoma County has weathered hard times before, we do press on in a way that shows our local pride and a hope for the future!

Thank you for thinking of me Corrine!

1 comments:

PattyAnn said...

Hey! How come she didn't contact me so I could review it? I have all this free time, right?