"In this beautiful and devastating book, part tribal history, part lyric and intimate memoir, Deborah Miranda tells both the stories of her Ohlone/Costanoan-Esselen family and the experience of California Indians as a whole through oral histories, newspaper clippings, anthropological recordings, personal reflections, and poems. Reassembling the shards of her people's past, she creates a work of literary art that is wise, angry, and playful all at once, one that will break your heart and teach you to see the world anew"--Back cover.

Introduction: California is a story -- The End of the World : Missionization 1776-1836. The genealogy of violence, part I -- Los Pájaros -- Fisher of men -- My mission glossary -- A few corrections to my daughter's coloring book -- Dear Vicenta -- Isabel Meadows -- Cousins (for Victor) -- The genealogy of violence, part II. Bridges : Post-Secularization 1836-1900. Lies My Ancestors Told for Me -- Ularia's Curse -- "The Diggers" (excerpt from O.P. Fitzgerald's "California Sketches") -- "Digger Belles" -- Burning the Digger I (newspaper article) -- Burning the Digger II -- Ishi at large -- Old news -- Jacinta's medicine -- bridges. The Light from the Carrisa Plains : Reinvention 1900-1961. Tom's stories : Grandfathers ; Davy Jacks ; Guadalupe Robles ; The light from the Carrisa Plains ; My first drink ; He told me, have you ever been in a plane? ; When I woke up, it was daylight ; War -- "Bad Indian goes on rampage at Santa Inez" -- Novena to bad Indians -- Gonaway tribe : field notes -- Juan Justo's bones -- J.P. Harrington : a collage. Teheyapami Achiska : Home 1961-Present. Silver -- Petroglyphs -- Mestiza nation : a future history of my tribe -- Angel in a pink Plymouth -- A California Indian in the Philadelphia airport -- Intensive Spanish : a language acquisition / resistance journal -- Learning how to fish : a language homecoming journal -- Teheyapami Achiska -- Soledad -- In the basement of the bone museum -- Testimony -- One for the road -- Coyote takes a trip -- Post-colonial thought experiment -- California pow wow -- "To make story again in the world" -- Ancestry Chart.