Ishi was initially imprisoned by the local sheriff. ġ911 photograph of Alfred Kroeber and Ishi Ishi lived alone for three years until he was found half-starved in a cattle corral near Oroville, California in August 1911. Ishi's mother was left unharmed, but died soon after. Two of the Native Americans fled, and were never heard of again. A tiny settlement inhabited by Ishi, his elderly mother, and two others was found by some surveyors in 1908, who then looted the village. The number of Yahi living near their ancestral home shrank rapidly, and in 1872 they were believed to have gone extinct. Most of the Yahi were killed by settler militia in the early 1800s. The Yahi lived near the foothills of Mount Lassen for several thousand years before the arrival of white settlers.

Ishi, believed to have been born between 18, was a member of the Yahi people, a subgroup of the Yana, a Native American tribe. A 2013 biography of Theodora Kroeber wrote that she had a talent for 'making us part of a life we never took part in', while scholar James Clifford stated that the book 'wrapped up Ishi's story in a humane, angry, lovely, bittersweet package.' Background and writing It was highly praised by reviewers, who commended Kroeber's writing and her ability to evoke the Yahi culture. The book was twice adapted into film, in 1978 (as Ishi: The Last of His Tribe) and 1992 (as The Last of His Tribe). It sold widely, remained in print for many years, and was translated into more than a dozen languages. Ishi in Two Worlds was published in 1961, after Theodora Kroeber had spent two years studying the sources about him. Though she had never met Ishi, she decided to write a biography of him because her husband did not feel able to do so. Theodora Kroeber married Alfred Kroeber in 1926. There, he was studied by the anthropologists, before his death in 1916. He was befriended by the anthropologists Alfred Louis Kroeber and Thomas Waterman, who took him to the Museum of Anthropology in San Francisco. Ishi had been found alone and starving outside Oroville, California, in 1911. Written by American author Theodora Kroeber, it was first published in 1961. Ishi in Two Worlds is a biographical account of Ishi, the last known member of the Yahi Native American people.

Ishi in Two Worlds by Theodora Kroeber