Hill Williams

Hill Williams reported Northwest news for decades. Now, in his memoir, he transforms his favorite and most memorable stories into inviting, candid narratives that bestow a remarkable gift--a window into the heart of an affable and seasoned regional journalist. Employing a genuine, homespun style with a hint of nostalgia, he reminisces about unforgettable people, places, and events he covered, natural and human history, and a vanished time in his chosen profession. He writes about Hanford and a Coast Guard officer's heroism. He recounts interviews about whale-hunting in canoes, studying salmon at the University of Washington, and a famous dog-sled run. He captures what it was like to grow up on the dry side of Washington during the 1930s and 1940s and to work before computers became ubiquitous. He shares his own eyewitness accounts--the flooding of Celilo Falls, the first water flowing from the Columbia Irrigation Project, a 1952 nuclear test in Nevada, the sulfur emanating from the crater atop Mount St. Helens, and a mysterious, massive chunk of earth in the middle of the scablands.

On the eve of World War II, news of an astonishing breakthrough filtered out of Germany. Scientists there had split uranium atoms. Researchers in the United States scrambled to verify results and further investigate this new science. Ominously, they soon recognized its potential to fuel the ultimate weapon--one able to release the energy of an uncontrolled chain reaction. By 1941, experiments led to the identification of plutonium, but laboratory work generated the new element in amounts far too small to be useful. Fearing the Nazis were on the verge of harnessing nuclear power, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gambled on an ambitious project to research and manufacture uranium and plutonium for military use. As research continued, engineers began to construct massive buildings in an isolated eastern Washington farming community. Within two years, Hanford became the world's first plutonium factory. The incredibly complex operation was accomplished with a speed and secrecy unheard of today; few involved knew what they were building. But on August 9, 1945, when the "Fat Man" fell on Nagasaki, the workers understood their part in changing the world. Hanford's role did not end there. The facility produced plutonium throughout the Cold War. Some was used in tests conducted halfway around the world. Nuclear bombs were dropped on the Bikini and Enewetak Atolls, profoundly impacting the Marshall Islands people and forever altering their way of life. Through clear scientific explanations and personal reminiscences, Hill Williams traces Hanford's role in the amazing and tragic story of the plutonium bomb.

The Restless Northwest provides a brief, easy-to-follow overview of the geologic processes that shaped the Northwest. One of the attractions of the Northwest is its varied terrain, from the volcanic Cascade Range to the flood-scoured scablands of eastern Washington and the eroded peaks of the northern Rockies. These vast differences are the result of a collision of the old and the new. The western edge of Idaho was once the edge of ancient North America; as eons passed, a jumble of islands, minicontinents, and sediment piled up against the old continental edge, gradually extending it west to the present coastline. Figuring out how and when these various land forms came together to create the Northwest took much geological detective work. Unlike many geology books that focus on rocks, The Restless Northwest emphasizes the human drama of geology. The narrative is sprinkled with firsthand accounts of people involved in the exciting geological discoveries made in recent years. Hill Williams uses an informal conversational style to explain complex processes to a general readership. He enlivens the story of long-ago geologic events with fascinating asides on everything from enormous undersea tube worms to the Willamette meteorite, the largest ever found in the United States. Interested readers will discover much about Pacific Northwest geology without getting bogged down in an overabundance of details and scientific terms. Winner of the 2003 Washington State Book Award.