Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America / Edition 1

by Theodora Kroeber, Karl Kroeber

Overview

The life story of Ishi, the last Yahi Indian, lone survivor of an exterminated tribe, is unique in the annals of North American anthropology. For more than forty years, Theodora Kroeber's biography has captivated readers. Now recent advances in technology make it possible to return to print the 1976 deluxe edition, filled with plates and historic photographs that enhance Ishi's story and bring it to life.

Ishi stumbled into the twentieth century on the morning of August 29, 1911, when, desperate with hunger and terrified of the white murderers of his family, he was found in the corral of a slaughter house near Oroville, California. Finally identified as a Yahi by an anthropologist, Ishi was brought to San Francisco by Professor T. T. Waterman and lived there the rest of his life under the care and protection of Alfred Kroeber and the staff of the University of California's Museum of Anthropology.

Karl Kroeber adds an informative tribute to the text, describing how the book came to be written and how Theodora Kroeber's approach to the project was a product of both her era and her special personal insight and empathy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520240377
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	11/15/2004
Edition description:	First Edition, Deluxe Illustrated Edition
Pages:	286
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.85(d)

About the Author

Theodora Kroeber (1897-1979), wife of Alfred Louis Kroeber, is also the author of The Inland Whale (California). Karl Kroeber, son of Theodora Kroeber, is Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University and coeditor, with Clifton Kroeber, of Ishi in Three Centuries (2003). Lewis Gannett was a critic for the New York Herald-Tribune.

Editorial Reviews

A most remarkable biography . . . . It is also a real source book of central California ethnology and a detailed record of this example of acculturation which is in most respects without equal in today's anthropological literature.

American Anthropologist

A book that all Americans should read.

New York Times

One of the most moving, tragic and ultimately triumphant human stories I have ever read.

Los Angeles Times

[A] beautiful and compelling book . . . . Highly recommended.

New Yorker

A highly original literary work and a great human story.

San Francisco Chronicle

Ishi's story is one of the most remarkable in the annals of Indians on this continent, and Mrs. Kroeber tells it with an integrity and insight that raises it to the level of history which is also art.

Washington Post

Remarkably lively and interesting.

Atlantic Monthly

Absolutely fascinating.

Chicago Tribune

This magnificent biography of the lone survivor of the Yahi Indians shows man at his best.

San Francisco Examiner

A moving, poetic document.

Christian Science Monitor