We received
seven new books on local subjects through a generous donation from the Associated Students of College of
the Redwoods Senate. Here is a description of each one beginning at the top:
Medicine Trails: a Life in Many Worlds
by Mavis McCovey and John F. Salter: an autobiography of a medicine woman of
the Karuk Tribe. “If you want to understand the enduring, ancient life of one
of California’s original people, this is the book, and these two are the
guides. Read this book and see what you
have missed” Peter Coyote says of this book.
Sandspit: Book II A Redwood
Northcoast Notebook by Francesca Fryer. This
fascinating history of the Yurok, Tolowa, Hupa and Karok peoples and their
intersections with Spanish and American influences in the northcoast. It is
also about the terrain
and history, salmon and redwood.
Lighthouses
of the Golden State: California’s Shining Beacons by Kent Weymouth is the history of
the lighthouse from the southern-most Old Point Loma to the Northern-most Point
Saint George. Historic black and white images of the structures and major
people illustrate this well-researched history.
Treasure
at Battery Point by
Helen Corbin is a novel about Brother Jonathan, a famous paddle wheeler which
sunk while carrying a fortune in gold and the people who tried to find it. Described as both a thriller and a dangerous
love triangle, this novel has something for everyone.
Shadows
in the Rain: A Tale of Old Klamath, California by R. Joe King was a 2008 Spur Award
Finalist and tells the story of Klamath in 1964: right before the floods that
almost destroyed it.
Indian
Lore of the North California Coast
by Austen D. Warburton and Joseph F. Endert is a collection of stories, myths, historic
images and anecdotes centered on the Tolowa, Yurok and their neighbors. Few of
the photos are dated, unfortunately, but the memories and photographs are
excellent.
Women who
Kept the Lights: An Illustrated History of Female Lighthouse Keepers by Mary Louise Clifford and J.
Candace Clifford tells the stories of 32 of the hundreds of women who have been
lighthouse keepers. From the Atlantic to the Pacific, from maids to mothers,
their stories come alive with photographs and first-person accounts.