AN EVERYDAY HISTORY OF SOMEWHERE

Subtitle: Being the true story of Indians, deer, homesteaders, potatoes, loggers, trees, fishermen, salmon, & other living things in the backwoods of Northern California. After an unpromising opening, this becomes one of the season's real charmers, a bit like Home Comfort but more original. Raphael decides to apply a fine-tooth comb to the history of the tiny area he lives in -- he wants to learn about Life (this large purpose does not account for his repeated confusion of biology with botany). For pre-1900 his work is a light collation of other histories of the area; for post-1900 he uses the tape recorder and oral history. This means that many of the folks he interviews are well into their seventies and eighties -- but they have magnificent memories! The reader feels generation after generation rise and pass through the voice of one speaker, and pass with all daily minutiae intact. Animal, vegetable, mineral or fish, it's all real, it's Life -- reader, go thou and find your own backyard. Raphael strongly urges you to ask yourself, ""Where the hell do I live?