“For many of us the Pacific Northwest is a combination of a lot of things: nature, cities, ancient cultures, pop culture, farms, fashion. For many years Open Spaces has brought that vital synthesis to life, giving us a better sense of our region and our reasons for being here. This anthology is a celebration, both of the Pacific Northwest and of the important and enlightening work done by Open Spaces . This should be required reading for everyone, particularly those charged with stewarding this region into its next century.”

-- Ethan Seltzer, Professor of Urban Studies and Planning, Portland State University

“In  Open Spaces: Voices from the Northwest,  writers with deep roots in this place have gathered together to tell us the old stories.  To bear witness. To say, look, here is where we live.  Here is how it was.  Here is what we've lost, what we're losing, what we're still holding onto, and here is how we might move forward.  These are writers who speak from deep knowledge of the Northwest and the land that has shaped our character.  Open Spaces  is a gift for us all."

-- Molly Gloss, winner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award

“Open Spaces was a handsome magazine addressing the work and pleasure of living in the Northwest. It--and the group of wonderful writers associated with it over the years--continues its work as an on-line publication. But now it is back in print, with an anthology of fine writing from David James Duncan, Kathleen Dean Moore, Kim Stafford, John Daniel, William Kittredge and more, in a handsome anthology of Open Spaces: Voices from the Northwest. Good for Open Spaces guru Penny Harrison, and for the University of Washington Press!”

-- Rich Wandschneider, Director, Josephy Library at Fishtrap

“Just looking at the table of contents for this anthology launches the reader on a journey. In the mood for a short jaunt as close as your own backyard? Try Rhapsody for Blackberries or Deadheading. Interested in traveling a bit further? How about Second Thoughts about Rail Transit in America or Lessons from the Land for Protection in the Sea? And there could be no better tour guides than the impressive group of authors in this collection, who represent some of the most thoughtful observers about finding our proper place in the world.”

-- Janet Neuman, Professor of Law, Lewis and Clark Law School

“This is an anthology of beautiful pieces -- time devoted to reading these pieces will be rewarding!!" 

-- Jerry F. Franklin, Professor of Ecosystem Analysis, University of Washington

"If you ever find the rhetoric and duration of local environmental battles obscuring what is truly at stake, check out Open Spaces from editor and publisher Penny Harrison. Since 1997, she had assembled and presented an extraordinary range of regional authors and their essays, poems and analysis.

Tuesday night at Seattle's Town Hall, Harrison introduced three writers featured in a new book from the University of Washington Press. Reading from their entries in Open Spaces: Voices from the Northwest, Lee Neff, Eric Redman and William Ruckelshaus shared insights and understanding with tight, bright prose."

-- From the Seattle Times, by Lance Dickie

"New anthology: Ground truths from Open Spaces

Open Spaces, the quarterly magazine out of Portland, Ore., has provided a thought-provoking prism on “Cascadia” (our green, Northwest corner) since 1997. If you see the magazine on someone's coffee table, you can be sure there's a deeper side to that person's sense of Northwest identity.

….

For those not familiar with the magazine, this passage from the book's introduction by Open Spaces editor and publisher Penny Harrison is instructive: 'The editorial board of Open Spaces meets around a dining-room table…. Bookshelves share the walls with images of owls and bears depicted in the strong red and black strokes of Native American artists…. While we are far in time and place from the Algonquin Round Table in Manhattan , where Harold Ross, founder of The New Yorker, met with literary luminaries of his day, we feel a kinship with his belief that a magazine should "assume a reasonable degree of enlightenment on the part of its readers. It will hate bunk."'

The anthology's lineup of 30 writers— impressive for its range, readability and depth of knowledge — includes former Secretary of the U. S. Department of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, the inimitable David James Duncan, physician and mountain climber Thomas Hornbein ('I view risk like a drug, and as with any drug, dose matters. Too much or too little may not be good for one's health.'), William Kittredge, Denis Hayes, William Ruckelshaus, Kathleen Dean Moore and Kim Stafford, son of the late poet who has built up a considerable body of work in prose and poetry that will stand as a lasting Northwest legacy. All of these are experts in their fields, and they approach the Northwest experience from a variety of angles: political, environmental, scientific, literary and legal.

….

Originally people migrated west to lose themselves; now, fully settled, we seek to find ourselves. 'Open Spaces: Voices from the Northwest,' is a good place to look."

-- From Queen Anne & Magnolia News, Capitol Hill Times, North Seattle Herald-Ouutlook, South Seattle Beacon, by Mike Dillon

". . . the Open Spaces anthology is essential reading for anyone moving to Cascadia and to the rest of the world .... a place that pulls together solid knowledge and lyrically expressed wisdom."

-- From Willamette Week, by Brett Campbell