Selected Capsule Book Reviews
THE CROWBAR HOTEL:
Photojournalist Burkhardt publishes new Canadian travel-adventure ...
D. C. Jesse Burkhardt, who introduced a new genre of travel-adventure with 2007’s
Travelogue From an Unruly Youth (winner of the Washington Press Association award in the “best
books/non-fiction” category) returns to blaze a trail across Canada in a two-fisted sequel, The
Crowbar Hotel: By Freight Train Across Canada.
The Crowbar Hotel, which was released on July 11, 2009, is “a unique travel-adventure that details an
unusual expedition through Canada, as well as a glimpse into the hidden world of transportation via
freight trains,” Burkhardt explained in the book’s introduction. “The Crowbar Hotel explores what it
means to aim yourself toward a chosen horizon and vowing to get there, despite obstacles and
hardships — and despite encounters with police who threatened us with deportation.”
“Crowbar is a wild guidebook to a time when we traveled without paying attention to signs or maps or
rules,” Burkhardt said. “We moved on instinct and faith. Freighting through Canada was truly another
world, and it was a world of mystery and magic.”
In an era when it seems like virtually every product is marked “Made in China,” Burkhardt added that
he was proud he had his latest book printed in the Columbia River Gorge — by Columbia Gorge Press in
Hood River, Oregon, U.S.A.
“It’s time we stand up for America and our own workers and communities, and get back to producing
and purchasing goods right here,” he explained.
TRAVELOGUE FROM AN UNRULY YOUTH:
E-mail from PAT S., Portland, Oregon:
"As I read each chapter, I found myself wanting the writer to turn around and find his way back to Marie. Burkhardt was young and innocent and was not ready for a long-term commitment. Yet, my heart ached every time he would leave Marie!
Burkhardt's attention to detail and his creative writing skills had me feeling every bit of what he must have been feeling. You wanted him to find warmth when he was cold, and food when he was hungry. He captured the excitement of getting to his next train and the anticipation of getting to his next stop.
I hope there is a second book in the works..."
A TRIO OF TESTIMONIALS (three readers send their thoughts ... )
From ADAM R., Portland, Oregon:
"I cracked open a copy of your Travelogue... yesterday and the next time
the book budget is funded I am going to buy a copy of that. I was going to skim the first couple pages and I ended up reading into the second chapter and I am neither a fast reader nor someone who usually reads memoirs and such. What prompted me to do this, besides having an hour to browse the bookstore was that I had gotten into reading your prose in Freight Weather, and that was prompted by my having read good chunks of Backwoods Railroads. I realized in Backwoods Railroads that I liked your writing. That prompted me to start reading the prose in Freight Weather the umpteenth time I cracked it open. So, yesterday, I saw your little green book and had just met Marie last weekend, and having heard that the book had something to do with you and Marie I thought I would sit down in one of the store armchairs and read it ... I lived in Eugene for most of three years when I was going to architecture school, and I spent a good chunk of time walking out to the SP (now UP) line along the Willamette River waiting for freights to come through. I got to where I knew the general schedule and would sometimes use a ladder on the side of a car as part of my transportation system, seeing as how I did not have a car most of the time I was living there ... Please keep writing and taking pictures."
From STEPHAN B., Leipzig/Zurich, Germany:
"Photojournalist D. C. Jesse Burkhardt's writing forged strong images in my head ~ neither could I, nor would I, describe it any better ... My interest in modeling contemporary Oregon shortline operations got started when my dad moved to Portland, Oregon, from 1995 to 1997 and I was able to spend three consecutive long, warm and lucky summers in the Pacific Northwest. I soon became fascinated by the lifestyle and natural setting of the area. What really got me started were the books by D. C. Jesse Burkhardt, which offered me a more sensual insight into the slow-paced world of branchline railroading. I therefore mention his books Backwoods Railroads, Rolling Dreams and Freight Weather as a major source of inspiration. "
(NOTE: See Stephan's wonderful Oregon site at:
http://wolfram-mohr.de/besier/index.htm)
From CHARLES B., Albany, Oregon:
"I just finished Travelogue about a week ago. I bought it from you at GorgeRail without even skimming the table of contents. And because of that, you can’t imagine my surprise when your journeys started out in Ashland, Oregon. Though I wasn’t yet living in Oregon until 1979, and lived an hour further north in Grants Pass, I still felt so much closer to the story, since it happened in my neck of the woods. Well, the far greater surprise was discovering that your journey would take you to Corvallis. My job of eight years is in a building that was built right next to the Willamette & Pacific, only about 0.2 miles south of the bridge over the Marys River ... I could almost picture you there, 30 years ago this fall."
(Note: Charles delivered the following somber news report: "I am also writing to let you know of the coming end of an era. The Portland & Western Railroad has announced an embargo of the line south of Corvallis beginning June 16, 2007. The run up to Dawson on June 14 will be the last run for the foreseeable future, if not forever."
Thanks to Charles' timely report, I was able to get to Corvallis to witness and photograph the final run... me, Charles, and about 20 other great guys came and went, cameras and recorders in hand, paying our respects to this venerable route, which lasted 99 years from when it was built. Seeing the 10-car last train at Alpine Junction, where I used to work loading Christmas trees, was an emotional connection.)
THE ANN ARBOR RAILROAD:
"The Arcadia Publishing photo-essay series continues with Images of Rail: The Ann Arbor Railroad' by Jackson native D.C. Jesse Burkhardt. The South Carolina-based publisher's previous Michigan titles include several on Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, as well as numerous books on Detroit. The book features more than 200 photos, some never before published." -- The Ann Arbor News
"This certainly seems to be the definitive work on the Ann Arbor Railroad and has the right blend of emphasis on all aspects of it! It will be something worthwhile looking at again and again. Lots of nostalgia there for me." -- Jim Hannum, M.D., Olympia, Wash.
"For $19.99 the "Ann Arbor" book is a fantastic buy. It has steamers, diesels, cars, carferries, ads, etc, etc, etc. There are even a couple of M&LS shots. The quality of all but one or two of the pictures is excellent. As always with Arcadia publications, all are
in B&W. Anyone interested in the Annie would be missing a bet if they didn't pick up this book and do it soon." -- Hugh Hornstein
"A worthy member of the 'Images of Rail' series. The book has mostly images of locomotives and stations of the Ann Arbor Railroad, with a fair representation of the carferries. My copy was donated to the library of the Kalamazoo Model Railroad Historical Society, and it has not stayed on the shelf for more than a minute or two since. The text gives enough information to put the pictures into context, but doesn't go into a lot of corporate history. I consider that an asset in this case." -- Mark E. Tomlonson
FREIGHT WEATHER:
"As always, Burkhardt provides an accurate, lively text and thorough cutlines for the many photographs. But this time he has outdone himself. This time, he has reached down into the human heart and tried to help us understand what it is about trains that creates so visceral a reaction in so many people. Why does the sound of that whistle or horn in the night affect us? Why does the sight of rolling stock produce such unique reactions? This is art and trains unified. If you don't believe such a thing is possible, just look at this book." -- Salem (Ore.) Statesman Journal, June 10, 2001
"Each of Burkhardt's previous books were well written and nicely illustrated, and this volume [FREIGHT WEATHER] is no exception. His writing is insightful, colorful, and grounded in reality ... This volume was unique and refreshing in its approach, and comes highly recommended." -- The Michigan Railfan, July-August 2001
BACKWOODS RAILROADS:
"This [BACKWOODS RAILROADS] is a fascinating profile of a fragile web of tracks and trains that will surprise even many longtime residents of Oregon." -- The Oregonian, July 24, 1994
"BACKWOODS RAILROADS is a must-have for railroad buffs. It's also a book with a great deal to offer to the general reader. Its discussion of types of loads hauled, volumes hauled, lost routes, and threatened routes is, in many ways, a detailing of the economic and social health of western Oregon." -- Salem Statesman Journal, August 19, 1994
"Burkhardt, at 42, is too young to have experienced the era when the shorts and branches were an indispensable link in the economy, but he writes of them with charming nostalgia in this handsomely illustrated book." -- Tacoma News Tribune, March 25, 1995
"The text is a readable mix of fact and sentiment ... This volume is handsome as well as informative." -- Trains Magazine, November 1994
ROLLING DREAMS:
"While the text is filled with facinating information, it is the collection of photos that makes this book [ROLLING DREAMS] exceptional. You get the feeling that in generations to come, people will pick up this book and be praising Burkhardt for capturing images that may eventually be wiped out by so-called progress." --The Vancouver Columbian, Feb. 23, 1998
"ROLLING DREAMS visually chronicles a decade of change in the Northwest's rail transportation network. Author and photographer D. C. Jesse Burkhardt's 88 pages of superb images, taken between 1988 and 1997, effectively capture the feel of this transition period when mergers and divestitures forever changed the region's railway landscape." -- Oregon Historical Quarterly, Fall 1998
"ROLLING DREAMS is great. Absolutely wonderful photos." -- Bob Melbo, president, Willamette & Pacific Railroad
Miscellaneous
E-mail from KEITH W., Lacey, Washington:
"First, I would just like to say your books are outstanding. They are in a category of their own. Your books have really enhanced my interest in trains. Thank you." "
E-Mail from SEAN BONNIWELL, lead singer and amazing songwriter from the 1960s band, THE MUSIC MACHINE (aka THE BONNIWELL MUSIC MACHINE)":
"Thanks for the book; nicely done. It looks and presents itself as uniquely thought-provoking."
An e-mail from Sean Bonniwell is especially gratifying. His music, lyrics, and image ~ I always admired the tough. black-gloved look ~ are among the very best of the 1960s. Sean is and was far above the average songwriter. Who else used words such as "rectify" and "gumption" and "insight" in hard rock lyrics, or had song titles like "Discrepancy" and "Astrologically Incompatible."
Bonniwell wrote about 1984-ish politics in tunes such as the ominous "Citizen Fear" and "Point of No Return," or about the environment in the wonderful "Mother Nature, Father Earth." And he wrote the ultimate heavy vision of teen angst, "Talk Talk," which became his signature song and biggest "hit." Of course, he wasn't "corporate" enough for pop radio/pop culture, so his vision was doomed to be squelched. At least we still have his fascinating music.
Sean, THANK YOU.
THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR WRITING.