Joaquin Miller
Introduction by Malcolm Margolin
Afterword by Alan Rosenus
Although Joaquin Miller is widely viewed as one of the “founding fathers” of the literature of the west, this new edition of his classic work proves him to be a writer of considerable power and appeal, with something fresh and vital to say to readers today.
First printed in 1873, Life Amongst the Modocs is based on Miller’s years among the mining towns and Indian camps of northernmost California during the tumultuous 1850s. As a nature writer, he was among the first to capture the fierce power and sublime beauty of California’s wild landscape. He was also a maverick in his portrayal of the state’s emotional landscape, dealing as no one has before or since with themes such as loneliness and defeat, melancholy and rage, joy and loyalty.
Malcolm Margolin wrote:“A powerfully felt narrative of survival and warfare in the gold-digger slums and Indian encampments of northern California.”
"In Life Amongst the Modocs we feel the raw crosscurrents of violence and love, of divided people and split loyalties, of delicacy and brutality, all presented to us full face....The novel, with its unique mixture of fact and fiction has such scope and in its odd way such profound truthfulness, that its equal cannot be found anywhere else in the literature of the West."