"Deborah Miranda's new book, "Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir" (Heyday, Jan. 2013), is both a tribal history of California Indians and a memoir of her own family's experiences. She is associate professor of English at Washington and Lee University and a member of the Ohlone Costanoan Esselen tribe of California Indians, also known as "Mission Indians."

The book is a collage of family stories, poems, newspaper clippings, anthropological recordings, photographs, old government documents and personal reflections as well as the occasional writings or testimony from Indians.

One reviewer described the book as "beautiful and devastating" and contended that it should be required reading for anyone seeking to learn about California Indian history, past and present. The book has already been picked up by a variety of departments in several universities including English, native studies, creative writing and history."

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New Book by W&L's Miranda Gives a Voice to California Indians (Washington and Lee University News 2/19)