Available NOW! $22
Nevada City Nisenan is the story of an indigenous people’s survival in the Sierra foothills, underscoring the importance of place and the resilience of Nisenan cultural institutions.
15 maps and a glossary
Over 100 rare photos, woodcuts, and drawings—including a number by gold rush artist Henry B. Brown
A chapter by outdoorsman and authority on local lore, Hank Meals, on gold mining in Nevada City: “A Landscape Overthrown.”
184 pages, 6 x 9 inches
“Everyone interested in California Indians, Nevada City, the Gold Rush, or California history should read this book. A little book that taught me a lot. The maps are especially useful.” - Albert Hurtado, historian
available now $16
During Henry B. Brown’s brief 18 month sojourn in gold rush California, he made over 100 drawings of scenery, mining camps, and Native people.
Quality reproductions
33 illustrations
28 pages, 8 1/2 x 11 inches
Reprint from a peer-reviewed article in the Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology
Meet the Author Book Launch
April 23 - North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural Center, San Juan Ridge 17894 Tyler Foote Rd, Nevada City 7:30 pm.
May 19 - Speaker Night, Nevada County Historical Society, 175 Ridge Road, Nevada City, 7 pm.
Fall (TBA): Powell House Book Launch
ALL PRESENTATIONS WITH HANK MEALS!
Books and the Brown article will be available for purchase
at public presentations.
Tanis and co-author Hank Meals.
Tanis C. Thorne
Tanis taught in the interdisciplinary Native Studies program at the University of California, Irvine, for 25 years. Her main research and publishing specialization is California Indians.
Primarily aimed at a general, regional audience, this book will also be useful for teachers and academics.
“Thorne shows how the development of industrial mining dispossessed Indians and limited their ability to survive in a landscape that had become hostile to them. Written for a general audience, this book will also be useful for seasoned scholars. A little book that taught me a lot.”
- Albert L. Hurtado, historian
“This copiously illustrated and meticulously documented book is a major contribution to California ethnohistory and an impressive piece of historical reconstruction. Tanis Thorne sheds new light on a Native community —largely forgotten by history— nearly destroyed by the cataclysmic events that characterized the Gold Rush. This richly detailed story of Nisenan survival in the face of overwhelming odds brings a specific time, place, and group of people to vivid life.”
- Thomas Blackburn, anthropologist
