Les AuCoin

In 1974, at the age of 32, Les AuCoin became the first Democrat to win a U.S. House seat in Oregon’s First District. He was one of the post-Watergate reformers who shook up an insular, autocratic Congress and led fights for affordable housing, “trickle-up” economics, wilderness protection, abortion rights, and nuclear arms control. In the 1980s, The Oregonian called him “the most powerful congressman in Oregon.” In his compelling collection of life stories, Catch and Release (Oregon State University), AuCoin traces his unlikely rise from a fatherless childhood in Central Oregon to the top ranks of national power. Catch and Release offers readers a revealing glimpse behind the scenes of congressional life, as lived by the 535 souls who inhabit the U.S. House and Senate – including the author, who assesses his own strengths and foibles with humility and candor.