The Pomo of Lake County (Image. This item is unavailable.The Pomo of Lake County (Image

Secure in their isolated valley until the arrival of the white man, the Native Americans of Lake County and their ancestors lived for more than 12,000 years in this temperate Eden of abundance. The anthropologist who labeled them all by one name was mistaken though; the Pomo were actually 72 independent villages, or tribelets, that spoke at least seven distinct and mutually unintelligible languages. Theirs was a culture without war, without tyranny, without greed--until the Gold Rush. Like native plant seeds, they have blown and been carried and have taken root again and again. Though their history far predates the camera, the artifacts, stories, and historical images collected from this region and its inhabitants can portray, in part, their joy and pain and their powerful ability to change and endure.

Retiring journalist K. C. Patrick, a fourth-generation Californian, returned to her Lake County home only to find there were stories left to tell, and none too soon, as the living memories of an ancient culture were dying out amid the pressures of modern living and casino revenue sharing.