Sacred Sites: The Secret History of Southern California

by Susan Suntree

Overview

A history that is equal parts science and mythology, Sacred Sites offers a rare and poetic vision of a world composed of dynamic natural forces and mythic characters. The result is a singular and memorable account of the evolution of the Southern California landscape, reflecting the riches of both Native knowledge and Western scientific thought.

Beginning with Western science, poet Susan Suntree carries readers from the Big Bang to the present as she describes the origins of the universe, the shifting of tectonic plates, and an evolving array of plants and animals that give Southern California its unique features today. She tells of the migration of humans into the region, where they settled, and how they lived. Complementing this narrative and reflecting Native peoples’ view of their own history and way of life, Suntree recounts the creation myths and songs that tell the story of the First People and of unforgettable shamans and heroes.

Featuring contemporary photographs of rarely seen landmarks along with meticulous research, Sacred Sites provides unusual insight into how natural history and mythology and scientific and intuitive thinking combine to create an ever-deepening sense of a place and its people.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496219558
Publisher:	Nebraska
Publication date:	06/01/2020
Pages:	318
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 10.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Susan Suntree’s previous books include Wisdom of the East: Stories of Compassion, Inspiration, and Love; Rita Moreno; and Eye of the Womb. She taught for many years at East Los Angeles College. Gary Snyder’s literary awards include the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for Turtle Island and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.Lowell John Bean is an anthropologist and the author and editor of numerous books and articles about California and Southwest Native American cultures and peoples. Juergen Nogai’s work has appeared in magazines, books, and museum and gallery exhibitions worldwide.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations   
Foreword 
Introduction 
Author's Note    

Book One
The Origins of Southern California: Western Science
Part 1. Light, Space, Matter      
Part 2. Galaxy, Planet, Moon, Rain   
Part 3. Wandering North America, Life, Death  
Part 4. Reptiles, Flowers, Mammals, Rivers   
Part 5. Southern California Coming: Mountains in Motion 
Part 6. Southern California Ice Age: Bountiful Homeland   

Book Two
The Origins of Southern California: Indigenous Myths and Songs
Part 1. Universe, World, People   
Part 2. The Great Captain Wiyot: Death, Spirit, Power     
Part 3. Food, Feasting, Deer, Moon    
Part 4. The First People   
Part 5. Human Beings: Singers, Balance Keepers     
Part 6. White People  

Epilogue: Chinigchinich, the Spanish, the Yankees     
Postscript  
Acknowledgments   
Notes 
Bibliography      

Editorial Reviews

“Susan Suntree’s mythopoetic Sacred Sites: The Secret History of Southern California weaves science, Native legend, and natural history into a two-hundred-plus-page poem. . . . [It comes] rooted in diversity and complexity, what many of the best books are about.”—David Ulin, Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times - David Ulin

“‘Human beings are the ones who have the power, through their songs, to affect the balance of the world.’ What an immensely beautiful book!”—Stephen Greenblatt, Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University and author of The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award

Stephen Greenblatt

“I simply cannot express adequately my appreciation for Sacred Sites: The Secret History of Southern California. It is wonderful! So full of beauty and knowledge.”—Glen MacDonald, UCLA Distinguished Professor and John Muir Memorial Chair of Geography

Glen MacDonald

“Written in the free-verse style of field composition, this text offers itself as both an archaic and modernist scripture for a scientific era, in which ‘dark energy’ shapes the ephemeral and permanent natural entities—the oceans, fields, mountains, and rivers—that flash across the reader’s eyes in dissociated leaps. The virtual absence of a self-referential speaker . . . makes this bardic chronicle sound more postmodern—informational, data-rich, a better fit for a generation seeking alternatives to the poetics of personal reference.”—Laurence Goldstein, in Poetry Los Angeles: Reading the Essential Poems of the City

Poetry Los Angeles: Reading the Essential Poems of the City - Laurence Goldstein

“Sacred Sites is a glowing monument to the magic that trails behind each one of us humans, a sweet testament to imagination and whatever God we may acknowledge. I have nothing but respect and awe for this absolutely unique work of art.”—Carolyn See, author of Making a Literary Life: Advice for Writers and Other Dreamers

Carolyn See

“Sacred Sites honors the power and beauty of our indigenous heritage and homeland. By knowing our history we better understand the present and our journey into the future.”—Anthony Morales, tribal chair, Gabrielino Tongva Council of San Gabriel

Anthony Morales

“After sailing through this triumph of literary montage the Southland will never seem the same—it has become Indian Country again.”—Peter Nabokov, professor of world arts and cultures at the University of California at Los Angeles and author of Where the Lightning Strikes: The Lives of American Indian Sacred Places

Peter Nabokov

“Susan Suntree presents a readable and broadly accessible account of the history of the universe, Earth, and Southern California in this scholarly and creative blend of ancient myth and modern science.”—Raymond V. Ingersoll, professor of geology at the University of California, Los Angeles

Raymond V. Ingersoll

“Susan Suntree demonstrates her love for the natural world along with her deep respect for the First Peoples of Southern California. The cultures of the Tongva and the Acjachemem are rich beyond measure and well documented in stories and traditions. We are not gone. We still exist. The wisdom and responsibility of being of the land is not taken lightly. Susan appreciates and supports this connection. Years of research and writing are shared with the reader.”—Rhonda Robles, member of the Acjachemem Nation

Rhonda Robles

“A geological and cultural human history of Southern California in verse? Impossible, right? Not so, as this is exactly what California-born Susan Suntree has done. And to Suntree’s credit, her performance of this ‘impossible’ feat is not only competent, it shines.”—Thomas Crowe,Bloomsbury Review

Bloomsbury Review - Thomas Crowe

"A history that is equal parts science and mythology, Sacred Sites offers a rare and poetic vision of a world composed of dynamic natural forces and mythic characters."—Sandy Amazeen, Monsters and Critics

Monsters and Critics - Sandy Amazeen

"Suntree tells the story that is least often told, and for that alone readers can be grateful."—Brett Garcia Myhren, Western American Literature

Western American Literature - Brett Garcia Myhren

“Meticulously researched geology, geography, history, and oral traditions are put in motion by a performer’s touch. . . . Sacred Sites is an outstanding literary work, combining science with the spirituality of Native oral traditions.”—Jurgita Antoine, Tribal College Journal

Tribal College Journal - Jurgita Antoine

"A geological and cultural human history of Southern California in verse? Impossible, right? Not so, as this is exactly what California native Susan Suntree has done. And to Suntree''s credit, her performance of this "impossible" feat is not only competent, it shines."—Thomas Crowe, Bloomsbury Review

— Thomas Crowe

Bloomsbury Review

"A history that is equal parts science and mythology, Sacred Sites offers a rare and poetic vision of a world composed of dynamic natural forces and mythic characters."—Sandy Amazeen, Monsters and Critics

— Sandy Amazeen

Monsters and Critics