In Ethiopia’s remote Lower Omo Valley, where our human ancestors first crafted tools, Africa’s most famous Indigenous peoples practice timeless rituals rooted in land and cattle, lives shaped by the sun, rain, and cosmos. Their world is shaken when Ethiopia’s development revolutionaries spot treasure in waters of the fabled Omo River tumbling from the highlands. The Omo will nourish the greatest agricultural dream in Ethiopia’s history, while pushing these ancient cultures to the brink. In this insider’s memoir of the drama that shaped America’s global policy on Indigenous rights in development, meet the wily officials, fiery activists, storied anthropologists, “human zoo” tourists, and embattled conservationists caught up in the struggle. In this valley beyond all valleys, does the past have a future?