Sacred Sites 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. In his foreword read by Peter Coyote, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gary Snyder writes that this book "brings us home". Carrying listeners from the Big Bang to the present, poet Susan Suntree 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 and Native American actor Kalani Queypo recount the migration of humans into the region, where they settled, and how they lived. Reflecting Native peoples' views of their own histories and ways of life, Suntree and Queypo recount narratives and songs of the First People, unforgettable shamans, and revered heroes. Founded on meticulous research, Suntree offers a rare and poetic vision combining Western and indigenous thinking to create an ever-deepening sense of a place and its people.