Last summer I read the excellent history of Seattle "Skid Road," by Murray Morgan, and I thought that I'd try William Spiedel's book for some pleasure reading this summer, and I'm so far extremely disappointed. It is nearly unreadable, and pales in comparison to Morgan's acclaimed history. Spiedel is not a gifted writer, and the book is chopped up into two and three sentence paragraphs that do not blend together smoothly. His attempt to write a humorous and somewhat subversive history of Seattle intrigued me, but he tries much too hard to amuse, and the book is marred by disorganization, flippant appraisals of such luminaries as Doc Maynard and Chief Sealth, and hints of racism. I doubt I will finish it.