Multnomah: The Tumultuous Story of Oregon's Most Populous County

This definitive reference on the history and politics of Multnomah County covers people and events from 1854 to the present day, providing compelling details about policymakers, public works, and political scandals.

Since its founding, Multnomah County's history has seldom been calm or peaceful. From hangings that turned into grim public spectacles in the nineteenth century' to the glaring failure to deal with urban growth in the middle of the twentieth, the county has survived frequent disruptive home rule charter changes and several attempts to alter its structure or merge with Portland's better-known municipal government.

Jewel Lansing and Fred Leeson include episodes such as the construction of the iconic Columbia River Highway, the tragic flooding of Vanport City in 1948, the employee strike of 1980, the library scandal of 1989-1990, and the same-sex marriage license debacle of 2004. They make valuable use of archival sources, oral histories, newspaper articles, and personal interviews to provide an engaging history of Oregon's most populous-and geographically tiniest-county.