Before Ishi

This book is an attempt to reconstruct the history of the Yahi Indians of northern California, a history the author feels was mangled by a common infatuation with the myths surrounding Ishi, the last survivor of the tribe. The focus on Ishi has allowed the Yahi’s remarkable adaptation to a hostile environment to be ignored. And the facts of the destruction of the tribe have been replaced with yarns which have been widely accepted, even though in the author’s view, they don’t make any sense.