Ishi, the Last Aborigine: The Effects of Civilization on a Genuine Survivor of Stone Age Barbarism

"Kroeber's 'Ishi, the Last Aborigine' invites some reflections on the imperfections of civilization." - Twentieth Century Magazine, 1912

Ishi (1861 –1916) was the last known member of the Native American Yahi people from the present-day state of California in the United States. The rest of the Yahi (as well as many members of their parent tribe, the Yana) were killed in the California genocide in the 19th century. Ishi, who was widely acclaimed as the "last wild Indian" in America, lived mos...