Wild Men: Ishi and Kroeber in the Wilderness of Modern America

By Douglas Cazaux Sackman

Book Overview

When Ishi, "the last wild Indian," came out of hiding in August 1911, he was quickly whisked away by train to San Francisco to meet Alfred Kroeber, one of the fathers of American anthropology. When Kroeber and Ishi came face to face, it was a momentous event, not only for each man but also for the cultures they represented. Each stood on the brink--one was in danger of losing something vital while the other was in danger of disappearing altogether.

Ishi was a survivor, and he viewed the bright lights of the big city with a mixture of awe and bemusement. What surprised everyone is how handily he adapted himself to the modern city while maintaining his sense of self and his culture. Kroeber was professionally trained to document Ishi's culture and his civilization. What he didn't count on was how deeply working with the man would lead him to question his own profession and his civilization--how it would rekindle a wildness of his own. Although Ishi's story has been told before in film and fiction, Wild Men is the first book to focus on the depth of Ishi and Kroeber's friendship. Exploring what their intertwined stories tell us about Indian survival in modern America and about America's fascination with the wild, this text is an ideal supplement for courses on Native American history, the U.S. West, and the history of California.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 019517853X
• ISBN13: 9780195178531
• Release Date: December 2010
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 382 Pages
• Weight: 1.16 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Wild Men is terrific

Sackman has taken a well know story and crafted it into a marvelous excursion into the lives of two fascinating individuals. Along the way his story takes many highways and byways, bringing together a wealth of information and insights into turn-of-the century San Francisco,, native American history, the study of anthropology, train travel, and so much more. A fascinating read, highlighted by numerous photos.

Wild Men: Ishi and Kroeber in the wilderness of Modern America

The author almost abandoned this project when he learned that another book about the last wild Indian (//Ishi's Brain: In Search of America's Last "Wild" Indian// by Orin Starn, 2004) was in the works. Encouraged by his publisher, Douglas Cazaux Sackman, a history professor at the University of Puget Sound, Sackman persevered and //Wild Men: Ishi and Kroeber in the Wilderness of Modern America// joins the collection of books and film exploring the life of Ishi, the last surviving member of his tribe. Ishi was a middle-aged adult when he was found standing in a slaughterhouse corral in Oroville, California, in 1911. Alfred Kroeber, a prominent anthropologist, secured Ishi's passage from Oroville to San Francisco, where Ishi became a resident of the Museum of Anthropology. For the remainder of Ishi's life, Kroeber, and others, endeavored to capture the language, history, and culture of this living artifact. Sackman describes his book as "...an entirely new narrative exploring different aspects of our shared American history that the meeting of these two men illuminate." His compact, well-written, and scholarly work will stretch your thinking on the value of aboriginal cultures, as well as mankind's relationship to the wilderness. Reviewed by Diana Irvine