A chronicle of the search for the truth about the life and death of a legendary Native American. Captured in the hills of northern California in 1911, Ishi, the last stone-age Indian in North America, was brought to San Francisco by the famous anthropologist Alfred Kroeber, and became a living museum display until his death five years later. Ishi's Brain is a first-person account by anthropologist Orin Starn, who sought to unravel the mystery of Ishi's true nature and to locate his brain in the archives of the Smithsonian museum in the hope of finally repatriating Ishi's remains. The trail to Ishi's brain leads Starn through the painful history of the extermination of the Indians, the strange and sometimes scandalous history of anthropology, and the changing, mixed-up world of Native California today. This absorbing new portrait of Ishi, wild man of Deer Creek, museum curiosity, and last of his tribe, will appeal to anyone interested in Native America, a story of science and scandal, and the life and legend of California's most famous Indian. 15 illustrations. Anthropology professor Starn relates his and others' relentless pursuit of the story of Ishi, the last "wild" Indian found in northern California in 1911. Ishi was brought by the renowned anthropologist Alfred Kroeber to live in a San Francisco museum, where he died in 1916 from tuberculosis. His remains were cremated, with the exception of his brain, whose location remains a mystery until the author and several concerned Native American activists begin to investigate. Their goal is to repatriate Ishi's remains and bury them near his tribal homeland near Mt. Lassen. In the fall of 2000, their goal becomes a reality, but only after they succeed, first, in locating Ishi's brain in the Smithsonian, and, second, in following the convoluted paths of his possible ancestry. Starn embellishes his chronicle with a thumbnail sketch of twentieth-century American anthropological studies, and woven throughout his account are tidbits of recent Native American history, including the inception of the American Indian Movement and the boon of casino profits, which help put the Ishi saga in its historical and political context. Deborah Donovan Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "Told like a detective story...a compelling, and, at times, agonizing story of human fallibility." - San Francisco Chroni cle, Best Books of 2004 "An intimate, provocative, even cathartic account of Ishi's long journey home." - Los Angeles Times Orin Starn is a professor in Duke University’s cultural anthropology department and has written for many years about Peru.