During the 1930s in the United States, the Works Progress Administration developed the Federal Writers’ Project to support writers and artists while making a national effort to document the country’s shared history and culture. The American Guide series consists of individual guides to each of the states. Little-known authors—many of whom would later become celebrated literary figures—were commissioned to write these important books. John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ralph Ellison are among the more than 6,000 writers, editors, historians, and researchers who documented this celebration of local histories. Photographs, drawings, driving tours, detailed descriptions of towns, and rich cultural details exhibit each state’s unique flavor. The WPA Guide to Oregon contains some quaint features, including a chapter entitled “Tall Tales and Legends” and a recipe for huckleberry cakes. The impact of the depression on the people of the Beaver State is discussed, and the beauty of the state is emphasized from the tips of the Cascadian Mountains to the agricultural region of Willamette Valley.

Maestro Sergiu Comissiona’s biography reveals facts about his happy childhood in a Jewish petit bourgeois family in Bucharest – then, “the little Paris of Eastern Europe”, his adolescence under the Nazi specter, and his youth in repressive communist times behind the Iron Curtain. His life changes from the closed horizons of communist Romania to the broad ones of the Western world when he immigrates to Israel, later settling in England, then Sweden and, finally, the United States. His career path, from an ensemble violinist to an internationally-renowned conductor, is followed chronologically and analytically, based on his own accounts, extended research, and revealing testimonials. The Maestro’s rationale of having his biography written was, in his own words, “for the Westerners to understand my deep attachment to my Romanian roots, for the Romanians to know about my struggle for artistic affirmation in the Western world, and mostly for young conductors to realize that through passion, patience and persistence – and by not committing suicide after the first failure – the dedicated commitment to the profession bears fruit.”