The Polar Bear Son: An Inuit Tale

Book Description

A lonely old woman adopts, cares for, and raises a polar bear as if he were her own son, until jealous villagers threaten the bear's life, forcing him to leave his home and his "mother," in a retelling of a traditional Inuit folktale.

Customer Reviews:

Sure to become a classic.......2000-12-19

I rate childrens books on how much I enjoy reading them the 2nd, 12th, and 500th time. Based on this criteria, this book is a winner! The story is simple and universally appealing. It touches on the themes of the stupidity of violence and anger, and the transcendence of love and loyalty, and provided a good starting point for discussions about these themes with my 5 year old. The resolution of the story is very reassuring, even inspirational, so it also rates high in my comfort book collection (along with classics such as the Runaway Bunny, Goodnight Moon, I Love You This Much, and the Little Bear Books.)

What really makes this book a pleasure to come back to again and again is the illustrations. They are simple but suggestive, rich in emotion, and just plain beautiful. I pored over each picture for a long time, soaking in their atmosphere and emotions which are conveyed sweetly, gently, and strongly. The book gives one a flavor for this distinctive culture while being universally appealing.

Get a copy of this book and snuggle up with a favorite child!

beautiful and touching.......2000-12-17

This is a stunning book. The story is simple and universally appealing, dealing with themes of love, loyalty, and mothering that any young child/caregiver will identify with. The pictures are absolutely beautiful - they are simple, yet convey strong, and universal emotions. As I read the book the first time, I savored every page of evocative illustrations, and couldn't wait to start reading it again.This is an incredibly appealing book that , while rich in ethnic/local flavor, could appeal to anyone who experiences basic human emotions. I read the book over immediately, and will enjoy reading it over and over again.

Book Description

In 1886, the Ihalmiut people of northern Canada numbered seven thousand; by 1946, when Farley Mowat began his two-year stay in the Arctic, the population had fallen to just forty. With them, he observed for the first time the phenomenon that would inspire him for the rest of his life: the millennia-old migration of the Arctic’s caribou herds. He also endured bleak, interminable winters, suffered agonizing shortages of food, and witnessed the continual, devastating intrusions of outsiders bent on exploitation. Here, in this classic and first book to demonstrate the mammoth literary talent that would produce some of the most memorable books of the next half-century, best-selling author Farley Mowat chronicles his harrowing experiences. People of the Deer is the lyrical ethnography of a beautiful and endangered society. It is a mournful reproach to those who would manipulate and destroy indigenous cultures throughout the world. Most of all, it is a tribute to the last People of the Deer, the diminished Ihalmiuts, whose calamitous encounter with our civilization resulted in their unnecessary demise.

Customer Reviews:

Concept is correct.......2005-08-20

The concept is correct anyway. These people were led to their demise by three factors: the church, commercialization (HBC), and the Canadian government. Mowat claims he spent two years living among these people. This is doubted by some. I've traveled in some of the areas that this book takes place. Not everyone has great things to say about this author. One person I talked to called him a historical novelist. He has other nicknames.

But while it is questionable that all the events described in this book and its' successor (The Desperate People) actually took place, at least he got the main theme correct.

The worst book EVER..........2004-06-07

What ever you do, do not waste your precious life reading this book...

Yes! A life-afirming wonderous book!.......2001-08-04

This book is magic. You will never think about a small band of Indians as statistics again. This book does volumes to make people of our society really feel what goes on in traditional societies. To feel jealous of their solidarity. To feel unloved by our own. It's great! READ IT.

Remarkable first book from promising author!.......2000-04-04

First published in 1947 and available in a wide variety of editions since then, Farley Mowat's first and most distant book is still remarkably readable in the world of the 21st century. It concerns one of the stranger human sagas of the last century, that of the discovery and destruction of a remote Inuit society, the Ihalmiut, in Canada's north. The setting of the book is far enough away in time for us to marvel at how little things have changed since. The contemptuous attitude of European man for the aborigine seems hardly to have altered over the years. We are still hard put to understand the needs of the first peoples and how to answer them.

Farley Mowat has combined a fine sensitivity for the natural environment with a sharp eye for the details of man's place within it. It must be exceedingly rare in the history of anthropology that such an inexperienced investigator has taken such pains to get to the source of his information. Mowat lived among the Ihalmiut for over a year to write the book. During that time he witnessed the rapid deterioration of the small group which remained, and tried to examine the causes of their decline. With very deft prose for such a young writer, he points out the difference between the intentions and the actions of the European discoverers of The People (as they refer to themselves) and the consequences of such disparity. The Ihalmiut were exploited in much the same way as any other tribal band found wandering by the early explorers. However, as Mowat points out, this was an exceptional group which had survived the extreme rigours of a barren land (known to us simply as The Barrens) for so many generations, only to be felled by contact with the very race which might have provided them with so much assistance.

The Ihalmiut are long gone from their homeland but their story serves to remind us of our often difficult relationship with the land and the people on it. Perhaps, as a race of city-dwellers, we need to consider our place in the natural environment more than ever. Mowat's work is a just accounting of where we stand in relationship to nature. Nor does he suggest that we should all go and live in the tundra. Yet People of the Deer is a source of considerable inspiration for those now ready to reflect on the unbalancing effect of contemporary values.

People Of The Deer.......2000-02-03

A truly insightful story of the inland eskimo people of the Canadian Arctic. It details not only their day to day survival in a harsh land, but also tells of their myths, legends, and history. It also tells of the whiteman's interference with their culture and how that affect may ultimately lead to their extinction. The book sincerely takes the reader into the lives of the People of the Deer.

Average customer rating:

Intriguing and Intensely Detailed Story of the Far North
flight of the soul.....
Two Tin Tallin's Fly Away
A beautiful, well-written story
Beautiful & Moving Story ....

Flight of the Goose
Lesley Thomas
Manufacturer: Far Eastern Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0967884217
Release Date: 2005-02-12

Book Description

In a remote Inupiat Eskimo village in 1971, the friendship and love between a young female shaman, a traditional hunter and a draft-dodging ecologist leads to tragedy.

Customer Reviews:

Intriguing and Intensely Detailed Story of the Far North.......2007-09-30

Lesley Thomas detailed this book so intricately that it seems real. I was most especially fascinated by the character of Kayuqtuq "Gretchen" Ugungoraseok, who is an orphan Native American adopted by the Inupiat, which means real people.

Kayuqtuq is a young woman living in a subsistence culture with roots that extend thousands of years into the past. Her observations of people, including naluagmiu (white man) Leif Trygvesen, are from the perspective of her culture. I was completely fascinated.

Though Kayuqtuq is already a young woman in this story, which is set in 1971, emotionally she is dealing with trauma from her childhood; perhaps she is also dealing with the continuous trauma of harsh life in the Arctic. The result is that Kayuqtuq's story is frequently more like a coming of age story than the story of a person who has already reached adulthood.

Part of Kayuqtuq's coping strategy is to become an angutkoq, or shaman. Regardless of whether Kayuqtuq has shaman powers or is incredibly intelligent, her insights and visions of events are remarkably accurate and frequently prescient. Unfortunately, her visions and insight fail to give her enough clarity to prevent tragedies.

This novel is primarily the story of Kayuqtuq "Gretchen" Ugungoraseok and Leif Trygvesen. The story is partially about the clash of cultures, but also about how Kayuqtuq and Leif react differently to the situations around them because of their cultures. Kayuqtuq and Leif's perspectives allow us to see how Inupiat culture views various situations in comparison to European culture.

Shading and complicating the cultural differences between Kayuqtuq and Leif is that each is multicultural in their own way. The Inupiat adopted Kayuqtuq, but she is Native American. European and Viking culture strongly influenced Leif's mother and father, but Leif is from the United States. Adding even more complexity is that each is an outsider in their culture. Kayuqtuq is trying to learn to become an angutkoq, which Inupiat elders forbid, and Leif is an environmentalist and against the war in Viet Nam, neither of which made him popular with "The Establishment" in 1971. It was probably inevitable that the two outsiders found kindred spirits in each other and came to love each other. Perhaps the tragedies that followed were just as inevitable.

Lesley Thomas's writing reminds me of the detail that Charles Dickens put into his novels. I like Dickens' writing very much and I am unable to recall any modern author to whom I have been exposed that writes with such intricacy and precision. However, Lesley's writing is so clear and organized that even with the complexity of the story I never got lost or had to re-read a section. This book is such a literary achievement that it has received awards from The National Federation of Press Women, The Alaska Press Women, and The Washington Press Association.

This book is neither a light read, nor is it a book that you will forget any time soon. I will admit that my eyes were moist as I finished Lesley Thomas's story of Kayuqtuq and Leif. Lesley's writing pulled me so deeply into the characters that they seemed real to me. Just as in real life, what happened to them can not be undone, no matter how we might wish otherwise. Even now, several days after finishing this novel, I wish I could undo what happened, but then Lesley's message would have been diluted, and I, and future readers, would have been less affected.

The awards this fictional novel has won are well-deserved. This book is one of the best modern novels I have read. It is truly a great novel. If you enjoy stories about the conflict in cultures, if you have ever liked Dickens, if you want to read about the effect modern culture has had on the Inupiat and the environment of the far north, or if you just want to read an incredibly well written book, get this one.

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.

flight of the soul............2007-08-26

I'm happy to recommend this intricate and poetic novel to those looking for more than a quick read or an easy story: looking for something more soulful, something that leaves the heart transformed.

Much has been written about the hundreds of cultures destroyed by Christian missionaries, whether they carry bibles or rifles or deeds or broken treaties. The setting of this drama is a small Alaskan village trying to hold itself together in the aftermath of partial colonization. But Lesley Thomas does not return preaching for preaching. Instead, she draws upon her own life experience to show the reader exactly what life there looks like detail by detail one conversation at a time, all of it set against an Alaskan landscape so searing and mysterious that it too becomes a character.

In this setting two people try to find each other: an Indian woman whose English name is Gretchen, and the biologist she calls the Birdman. Again and again they miss each other, only to be brought back together by a passion deeper than words: a fine demonstration of how much hurt can be inflicted on a budding romance to the extent lovers try to protect themselves from each other. There is a lovely byplay in which Gretchen sneaks into the biologist's camp to read his very personal journal, which he conveniently leaves under his pillow. How badly these two want to talk to each other, and how hard they find it to do so, is a tension behind the subplots playing out between Inupiat villagers, visiting whites, orphaned Gretchen, and a very confused but sensitive scientist suddenly exposed to a wider world than was dreamed of in his philosophy.

A complication: Gretchen is a practicing shaman who does not fully understand what she's doing. Her struggles are consistent with how other cultures understand shamanism (as opposed to New Age workshop "neoshamanism" bent to the agenda of self-improvement), including her spells of dissociation and the terrifying images she encounters. It's gratifying to read an author who has done her homework on this topic, especially at a time when so much Native lore has been appropriated, adulterated, and sold to people who don't know any better.

As a reader who teaches a graduate-level myth class, I appreciated the mythological references, quotes, stories, legends, all lightly touched on without interfering with the pace of events. A good question for the reader to wonder about while reading: What myth are the lovers caught up in, and what are their options for finding each other from within it? (The old Norse saying that starts the Prologue puts it well: "How can anyone know what is possible for those in love?")

Another dimension to this novel is the ecological, particularly as people on the scene (including the biologist) note the climate changes and business decisions that threaten the Alaskans. The ultimate fate of everyone in range--and nowadays we are all in range--is clear: "The animals are sickening and we are told not to eat them, nor nurse our own babies. Soon we must leave our home, retreating from the rising waves. We will join the saddened animals and wander, hoping for mercy from strangers." It would seem to be a law of history and psychology too that those who experience themselves as perpetually angry exiles and outcasts tend to inflict displacement on other creatures unless a way is found to bind up the original wounds and find a sense of homecoming.

Many poignant episodes appear throughout the story. One occurs about two-thirds of the way through when Gretchen, who thinks of herself as ugly, is finally able to experience some of her own inner and outer beauty by trying to retrieve the soul of the man she loves and yet torments.

Mental health professionals in the U.S. have been slow to realize that not all psychological anguish arises from within. What happened to both Gretchen and the Birdman to make them both so guarded and so easily injured has roots in the shadows and pathologies of their cultures. Part of the difficulty of healing and connecting involves their attempts to shoulder what are actually historical-colonial legacies of wounding playing out in personal relationships.

To end these terrible legacies: how to do that? What will it take to make the dominant culture less lethal to itself, to Earth, to people it regards as Other? The myths of many times and this novel offer a hint: the story must be rewritten from within it, starting with many small and large acts of sacrifice carried out in love strong enough to fly like the goose into the heavens.

Two Tin Tallin's Fly Away.......2007-08-22

What a cosmic, karmic, seismic shift the elders in Lesley Thomas' excellent epic, centered in the 1971 Alaskan Arctic, have endured in their lifetimes. This haunting book is a love story, a paean to survivors, an ode to a land and civilization literally melting - disappearing while the Bush/Cheney/Coleman Global Big Oil Band plays on.
Lesley's lovely book is wonderfully written, but yet, at least for this reviewer, sometimes difficult to read. I find myself feeling like Billy Jack in the ice cream store: 'I try. I really try' not to let the [bad guys] get me down and 'then I think of ... this idiotic moment of yours and I Just Go Berserk.'
Please read this book, and pass it on to all your sane friends and relatives and maybe, just maybe, if enough of us on this Group W Bench (listen to Alice's Restaurant again) band together, we can stop the insanity!
... cue Jinx Dawson and Coven o/~ One Tin Soldier Rides Away o/~
/TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer

A beautiful, well-written story.......2007-08-17

I can't pretend and say that I know a whole lot about shamanism and indigenous culture in general because I don't. When I read Lesley Thomas' FLIGHT OF THE GOOSE, I initially thought she was part of the indigenous culture that she writes about in her novel. Lesley really dives into every minute detail about the daily lives of the indigenous people in Alaska and their culture including their language. I was wrong. Judging by the text, the author really did her research on the language, spirituality, and the mundane every day life of the indigenous natives in Alaska. There is even a glossary of Inupiaq in the back of the book that defined certain words that she used in her story. The authenticity of Lesley's novel alone gets major kudos from me.

The story of FLIGHT OF THE GOOSE is told from two different perspectives...Gretchen, a young solitary Inuit who is teaching herself to become a shamaness, and Leif, a biologist who is trying to avoid the draft. Their romance certainly plays a big role in Lesley's novel but the author also addresses other issues like war, the environment, and the clashing cultures of the older and younger Inuits without coming off as preachy and sanctimonious.

I am normally not a big fan of romance novels. I find them rather unrealistic and phoney but Lesley Thomas's novel is anything but unrealistic. What I really liked about the book was the authencity of the book. The amount of research that Lesley invested into her book really shines through especially when she describes the uneventful daily lives of Gretchen and her people.

I loved reading FLIGHT OF THE GOOSE. Lesley Thomas has a wonderful gift for storytelling. She has made a new fan out of me who rarely reads fiction nowadays.

Beautiful & Moving Story ...........2007-08-09

I just finished this book five minutes ago and scores of thoughts and images are floating through my mind right now. It is hard for me to figure out what to say in a review that hasn't been said already and how to convey the thoughts I'd like to share. It is an incredible book and one that I would not hesitate to recommend to any book club or anyone else to read.

First off, it's very lyrical. I can actually see the tundra and the sea breaking loose from the ice after a long hard winter. I can actually see the tent in the middle of the marsh. I can see the love shining in a young Indian's eyes, the fear and the impotent rage. I can see how love triumphs over bitterness and the very humanness of being human and scared. It is also a very lush novel ~~ lyrical and lush, my two favorite types of descriptions when it comes to reading. It is not a book to put down at a whim ~~ no, it's a book to savor and re-read over and over simply because of the beauty of language and description.

Secondly, I have always loved reading about different cultures. Perhaps it's because it's so different from my own life (which seems to be very much a white-bread and butter type in comparison to this novel's people). Whatever the reason is, I enjoy reading about it. Thomas does a great job of carrying me across the whole nation into a different world ~~ a world of ice and beauty, fraught with danger and redemption. It is not just a love story, it is about a disappearing way of life that makes your heart sad because once a way of life is gone, there is no way of reclaiming it.

Thirdly, it is one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever read. It's not your typical bosom-heaving type novel ~~ no, it's about a real love story of two star-crossed lovers. It's beautiful and real. A young man lost in the anger of his failed relationship with his father, grieving over the death of his brother, avoiding the Vietnam war finds love with a young girl, who is an orphan and a shamaness, wild at heart and unable to give away her heart. This book shows that love conquers all, even death.

In all honesty, you cannot pick this book up and read it, then forget about it. There are too many rich details in this book that throughout the course of the day, you'll be doing something, then you'll be reminded of something else in the book. This is a book that you will want to read again in a few years. And again. It is one of the most beautiful story you'll ever want to read.

Pick up this book and soar into a world of beauty that you will never forget.

8-9-07

Kabloona: Among the Inuit (Graywolf Rediscovery Series)

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Great descriptions and subtle insights
Mesmerizing Tale of the Eskimos
A Magical Book
Haunting and wonderful
I lived there as a child

Kabloona: Among the Inuit (Graywolf Rediscovery Series)
Gontran De Poncins , and Lewis Galantiere
Manufacturer: Graywolf Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1555972497

Book Description

This extraordinary classic has been variously acclaimed as one of the great books of adventure, travel, anthropology, and spiritual awakening. In 1938-39, a French nobleman spent fifteen months living among the Inuit. He is at first appalled by their way of life: eating rotten raw fish, sleeping with each others wives, ignoring schedules, and helping themselves to his possessions. But as de Poncins odyssey continues, he is transformed from Kabloona, The White Man, an uncomprehending outsider, to someone who finds himself living, for a few short months, as Inuk: a man, preeminently.

Customer Reviews:

Great descriptions and subtle insights.......2006-12-12

I read this book and thought, yes this Frenchman makes many derogatory and embarassingly insensitive remarks about the Inuit. However, contrary to what one reviewer said below in "Good descriptions, bad insights, July 27, 2005", the author slowly develops a great respect for the intelligence, culture and abilities of these people so much so that he begins to emulate them. It is a subtle conversion story wrapped in a fabulous adventure; thoroughly enjoyable and well worth reading.

Mesmerizing Tale of the Eskimos.......2005-12-08

The audio CD is outstanding...indeed the best I have ever listened to. For one thing, the narrator is marvelous in recreating both the 1930's world of France and Frozen Canada. I can't think of any other book or audio that so successfully transported me into an alien culture. Considering that there are quite a few films and books about Eskimos, why buy this one written 70 years ago? Answer: the literary quality of this work surpasses the prose of the last quarter century. When you listen to the narrator weave his tale, it mirrors the experience of hearing a tobacco chewing explorer slowly recounting his adventures in the wild. The story dives deep into the interior life of the author as much as it details an ethnographic examination of (primitive) Inuit life. The myths and values of the Eskimos contrast sharply with the borgeouis morals of a gentleman of Paris. For example, in Eskimo culture, there is little concept of private property...that's why an Eskimo man will let you borrow his wife or a snow knife. Language in the arctic is far more concrete. A polar bear is HE WHO HAS NO SHADOW. Far away, in the cold Arctic, author Grontran De Poncins learns what it means to be human, a man preeminently. This is a romance, a classic reminiscent of Robinson Crusoe. If you buy the audio CD, you will not be disappointed.

A Magical Book.......2005-01-17

This is a magical book which I first read when I was young. It inspired in me dreams of adventure which I did not follow, but which became a part of my inner life. Now that I am old, I am reading Kabloona again so that I can remember that I once was young.

Haunting and wonderful.......2004-12-23

My good friend and I were talking a while back after I had watched the movie The Fast Runner, which he had recommended. Talk got around to my deciding to send him my old childhood copy (out of print, I believe) of Peter Freuchen's Book of the Eskimos, and his deciding to send me his old childhood copy of Kabloona. Neither of us had ever heard of the other's book. I must say, as much as I've always liked Freuchen, I got the better of the deal!

What a wonderful book. So well written, such nice storytelling, so enjoyable, refreshingly honest, and unexpectedly insightful. It is haunting. It really is in a class by itself, although I have trouble putting my finger on exactly why this is so. All I know is that I did not want it to end, as I'm sure the author did not want his time in the North to end. And, like him, I don't think it will be the same if I go back and try it again. And I know I also had a strange feeling throughout which only later I identified as a form of envy, envy for the experiences this man had and for his ability to experience them so deeply. I've seldom felt envy mixed with awe and admiration like this before.

Of all the book, I was most deeply moved by his account of the priest out in the middle of nowhere who had survived and kept warm in incredible cold merely through the power of faith and prayer. Humbling.

A man comes out of nowhere, lives these experiences, writes this incredible book, and disappears back into nowhere. Amazing. Read it.

I lived there as a child.......2004-12-04

I looked up at the bookshelf over my computer and spotted the battered 1941 edition of Kabloona that has been in my family for 40 years since I first read it in the village of Coppermine (now Kugluktuk) when I was a 12 year old boy in 1961. I decided to do an AMAZON.com search to see if anyone else knew of this marvel that had so enchanted me as a child, and found the site you are now visiting.

We were much more civilized in the Coppermine of 1961 than the same village the author had visited 20 years earlier. We had electricity, and communication with the outside world by a Morse code key at the Department of Transport office, plus we had a scheduled visit by a single-engine Otter every two weeks. It was a magical time for me (adults found it a difficult time, but they simply did not understand things)

The book Kabloona gave me insight into the minds of the people around me. We were a community of 200 Inuit (Eskimos) and 35 whites. The whites had as many of the amenities of civilization as they could garner, but the Inuit lived much as described in De Poncin's book.

I was enthralled by the awesome hunters with their dog sleds and their magnificent huskies, not show dogs or racing dogs, but working dogs that made the difference between life and death. The men would bring back the carcasses of seal and caribou, and the furs they had trapped. The women sewed the furs into beautiful garments that kept man, woman and child warm in intolerably hard winters. It was also the women's job to butcher the carcasses, which they did with incredible speed and skill using only the ulu, or woman's knife. I regularly witnessed the activities of this way of life. De Poncin described all this in his book, but he also gave me insight into the underlying culture I was immersed in.

You can't live the life I led 40 years ago as a boy in the high Canadian arctic, but you can vicariously journey there to an even more primitive time, and enter into the incredible peace and stillness of an arctic winter night in an igloo, or the warmth and safety of a house made of snow as an unbelievable storm rages outside around you.

I recently spoke by satellite telephone to a man in Coppermine from my home in Missouri where I now live, and found that the village I once knew is now a very different place. But you can go back to an earlier era with De Poncin. I assure you, you won't regret your wonderful voyage with him.

I don't know if I'm permitted to speak of it here, but I have described my life in those years in the Arctic in a book, The Boy Who Fell To Earth. It is available at Amazon.com for those would like to buy a hard copy, or can be read for free on my warmbooks.com web site.

A Place Beyond: Finding Home in Arctic Alaska

Average customer rating:

A review from the Northwest Borough of Alaska
Like Most Sequels........
After reading The Last Light Breaking, I was hungry for more.
Excellent writer
A bit of a dissapointment.

A Place Beyond: Finding Home in Arctic Alaska
Nick Jans
Manufacturer: Alaska Northwest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0882404776

Book Description

This powerful book blends the rhythms of daily arctic life with high adventure. "Jans's writing is a pleasure," said the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Customer Reviews:

A review from the Northwest Borough of Alaska.......2003-12-27

This is a must-read for anyone planning to spend time in Alaska. Jans captures the norms, customs and ways of the people in the Northwest Arctic region. This was one of my very first books when contemplating moving to Alaska. And I recently re-read the books and realized exactly how much I had missed the first time through. It has been almost two years since returning to the Arctic and I cannot believe the everyday life he captures! Read this for all it is worth and extract all you can from his words.

Like Most Sequels...............2002-03-21

My extremely low ranking is not for this book as a stand alone, its in comparison to his first, 'Last Light Breaking', which was a masterpiece. I would equate these two books with Tarantinos two films, 'Pulp Fiction' & 'Jackie Brown', the first also being a masterpiece, but the second leaving you wanting. Not that 'Jackie Brown' or 'A Place Beyond' are wastes of time, its just that compared to what came before, and the fact that they are basically the same subject matter, you expect that level of art and when you dont get it youre dissapointed as I was with this book.

If youve already read 'Last Light', and still want a good book on the "Alaska Experience", im reading his latest now and let you know how it is when I finish.

But if you havent read 'Last Light Breaking' and are looking for a book in this genre, waste no time in buying it, its truly an amazing book. ...

After reading The Last Light Breaking, I was hungry for more........1999-10-20

A Place Beyond didn't disappoint. Jans writing style isbeautiful, simple, and eloquent. There are few authors who can weavethe reader into the story. Through all of Jans adventures, I was right there with him riding shotgun. The most underated and under publicized book(s) about Alaska. A must read!

Excellent writer.......1999-09-13

Nick Jans is an extremely gifted writer. I first read one of his essays in the Reader's Digest, and I was so impressed, I just had to read the rest of the book. His straightforward clarity, use of metaphor and intriguing observations make the Alaskan wilderness come to life. I personally would never want to live in Alaska, but I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing a bit of Alaska by reading this book.

A bit of a dissapointment........1999-09-03

Nick Jans has done what I did not think he could (would) do - dissapoint. Much of "A Place Beyond" is actually "Last Light Breaking". I was truly let down when I turned to a new chapter, only to discover that it wasn't new! I must say that his writing is superb - vivid, usually modest, captivating. If, however, I wanted a second helping of "Last Light Breaking", I could have simply grabbed my old copy. No matter how good his writing is, if he can't find the time to write enough essays for a new book, then why publish one?!

The Girl Who Dreamed Only Geese: And Other Tales of the Far North

Average customer rating:

Brains and Beauty

The Girl Who Dreamed Only Geese: And Other Tales of the Far North
Howard Norman
Manufacturer: Gulliver Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0152309799

Book Description

Based on decades of research and extended collaboration with Inuit storytellers, award-winning author Howard Norman’s masterful retellings of ten Inuit tales invite readers on a unique story--journey from Siberia and Alaska to the Canadian Arctic and Greenland. Dramatic illustrations inspired by stonecut art of the Inuit people capture the beauty and mystery of these stories as they carry us--sometimes laughing, sometimes crying--from village to village over taiga, tundra, snow plains, and the iceberg-filled sea.

Customer Reviews:

Brains and Beauty.......1998-04-12

Aside from the wonderfully told stories, this book is an exceptional example of bookmaking, from the white on white end pages to the frieze-like illustrations by the Dillons that tell the story along the top of the page. A great choice for a gift book.

North Pole Legacy: Black, White, and Eskimo

Average customer rating:

well documented
Best of the Peary/Henson Books
Amazing Story

North Pole Legacy: Black, White, and Eskimo
S. Allen Counter
Manufacturer: Invisible Cities Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1931229090

Book Description

Upon hearing rumors that the men who discovered the North Pole had fathered sons while on their expedition, S. Allen Counter arranged to visit the remote villages where Robert Peary, the credited discoverer, and Matthew Henson, the black man whose contributions to the expedition are widely ignored, stayed during their travels. This book recounts the astonishing story of Counter's trips to Greenland and the relationships he develops with the Eskimo ancestors of the two men. At the same time, new evidence about Peary's journey to the Pole is examined, and it comes to light that Henson, was the true hero.

Customer Reviews:

well documented.......2006-11-29

found this in my local library, and it was a great read. For a neuroscientist to be the writer, he is also a good writer. One passage describes as Peary's wife, coming to the artic from New York City on a relief ship, must have seen an Inuit woman with a Inuit child of white skin complexion, and "must have understood. A stoic woman", as the book describes, decided in not saying anything. Very very detailed, it filled the dots in many areas. Would have liked a critical analysis of the 1912 Henson book "A Polar Explorer" in light of the culture during the time it was written, and how it would have been re-written today, since the book publication could only be possible after Peary's review. And would have also mentioned more about the meteorites found and hauled in the 1890's. But still, the amount of detail and effort in stringing it all together is majestic.

Best of the Peary/Henson Books.......2006-01-10

I've read a good number of books by and about Peary, Henson, Rasmussen, Freuchen, Ehrlich, and others, and this is the best of the lot. It's a fascinating story that recounts the Peary/Henson trek to the N Pole and bundles it with such topics as Eskimo culture, race relations a century ago, and race relations today. Throughout it all, Dr. Counter writes with great sensitivity and objectivity about controversial topics. That he was able to discover the modern relations of Matthew Henson and bring them to the states for reunion and recognition is remarkable. If you are at all interested in history, the N Pole expeditions, or artic living, you'll really enjoy this book.

Amazing Story.......2001-11-06

I just heard this book's author on the radio, and was so impressed by him. He's a Harvard professor who got interested in the story of Matthew Henson, a black man who explored the Arctic and discovered the North Pole along with Robert Peary. The professor, Dr. Counter, has gone to the Arctic several times now, and has befriended the sons and grandsons of both Henson and Peary. Before Dr. Counter, nobody in the US even knew that these explorers had fathered children up there. And Dr. Counter has done a lot to get Henson recognition here in the States, where institutionalized racism has minimized his role in history.

The Last Light Breaking: Living Among Alaska's Inupiat Eskimos

Average customer rating:

Not a traditional Ethnography, but still amazing
Even better than you might expect
Facets of Rural Alaska
Well Done!

The Last Light Breaking: Living Among Alaska's Inupiat Eskimos
Nick Jans
Manufacturer: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Essays & Travelogues | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 088240458X

Book Description

In breathtaking prose, Alaskan writer and teacher Nick Jans offers an insider's perspective on America's last great wilderness and its northernmost people, the Inupiat Eskimos.

Customer Reviews:

Not a traditional Ethnography, but still amazing.......2004-04-23

When I first ordered this book, I was looking for an ethnography of the Inupiat. I didn't look that closely at the description of the book, but since it had a five star rating, I still bought it. The day it arrived, I started reading it and found at that what I received was not what I was expecting...however I still couldn't put it down. Jans' stories of life with the Inupiat, are amazing.

While it isn't a traditional ethnography, Jans still gives some amazing insight into the lives of the Inupiat. His descriptions are colorful and entertaining while still giving a sense of the seriousness of the intrusion of mining and modern culture on the traditional subsistence of the Inupiat. There is a degree of fear as to what will happen to them as society marches onward into the remote regions of Alaska and provides a sense of urgency of protection for these people.

If you are remotely interested in what life is like above the arctic circle, get this book. Don't think about it, just get it.

Even better than you might expect.......2001-07-25

This February, I was sitting in the library at the Selawik school -- just above the Arctic Circle, population 700; I was there as part of a program that sent authors to the Alaskan bush -- and I asked the librarian for a book recommendation. She went straight to THE LAST LIGHT BREAKING. I leafed through it and then bought it when I got home.

My favorite piece in this collection is "Beat the Qaaviks," Jans' account of an Arctic basketball game, but they're all excellent. I'm hoping to return to Selawik, and to take a friend with me. I gave him THE LAST LIGHT BREAKING to whet his appetite.

If you're reading this, you're already thinking about buying the book. Just buy it. It's great.

Facets of Rural Alaska.......2001-02-02

This collection of essays are the author's descriptions and reflections on aspects of life in rural Alaska. It's not a story of pioneering or stone age lifestyles, as the title "living among the eskimos" might suggest. Rather, Jans gives a vivid picture of how the lives of rural Alaskans are like a collision of the old and new worlds. It is a world of snowmachines, TV, and basketball, and caribou hunting. Nick Jans lived in the villages of northwest Alaska for decades. The reader benefits from his sense of the most striking or moving experiences he has collected and his perfect, crystal clear prose. I came away with the sense that Jans loves Alaska and when you read the book you can feel it yourself. I also highly..HIGHLY recommend his more recent book that incorporates stunning photography with essays.

Well Done!.......1997-04-22

A great descreption of what life is like in the Alaskan Bush

Arctic Adventure: Inuit Life in the 1800s (Smithsonian Odyssey)

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Arctic Adventure: Inuit Life in the 1800s (Smithsonian Odyssey)
Dana Meachen Rau
Manufacturer: Soundprints
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1568994176

Northern Tales: Stories from the Native Peoples of the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Regions (Fairy Tale and Folklore Series)

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Tales of Shaman, Spirits and Animal People

Northern Tales: Stories from the Native Peoples of the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Regions (Fairy Tale and Folklore Series)
Howard Norman
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375702679
Release Date: 1998-05-26

Amazon.com

Mention the Arctic and most people think of the North Pole, polar bears, Eskimos, and a whole lot of ice and snow. That's fine, as far as it goes, but there's a lot more to the Arctic and subarctic than Nanook of the North. Consider, for example, the Ainu people of Hokkaido, an island of Japan, or the Chukchee of Siberia; add in the native peoples of Greenland, Canada, and the Aleutian Islands and you've got a vast geographical area diverse in cultures. Different as the traditions and individual ways of life might be from tribe to tribe and region to region, there are some fundamental similarities in Arctic peoples' experience--a harsh and unforgiving environment, hunting and fishing as a way of life, and, above all, a rich oral tradition. It is with this oral tradition that Howard Norman is chiefly concerned. He has collected 116 folktales from a variety of northern peoples and organized them into categories such as "Tricksters and Culture Heroes," "Shaman Stories," and "Stories of Strange and Menacing Neighbors," among others. Each section is prefaced with a short introduction that provides a solid basis for understanding important themes. Whales, skunks, cannibals, and ghosts are just some of the characters that populate these tales from the top of the world.

Customer Reviews:

Tales of Shaman, Spirits and Animal People.......2003-12-25

Having covered Native American, Arabian, Scandinavian and African myths, legends and stories, Pantheon turned their attentions to the Arctic circle and produced this wonderful little gem. In this book, the tales of the Siberian Yukaghir and Chuckchi, Ainu (caucasian natives of Japan) and Native Americans of Alaska and Canada are covered. There are lots of stories from the Inuit, Aleut and other such Nations in particular. As with the other Pantheon books, the chapters are divided into major themes including Village Life, How Things Became the Way They Are, Culture Heroes/Tricksters, Shamanism, Animal People, Monsters and Spirit, Hunting Stroies and Marriages Between People and Spirits. The Culture Hero/Trickster section in particular is enjoyable as it covers the Smart Beaver Cycle of the Tagish, the Glooskap tales of the Micmac and the Wenebojo Cycle of the Chippewa, but all the stories are wonderful. Readers will become aware of the deep cultural heritage of the Native peoples of the far north as they go through the book, seeing the many major connections (like Big Dreaming, Shamanism and so forth) as well as cultural differences which made each Nation unique, with their own beliefs and customs as rich and varied as those of Europe. In addition, many of these stories, such as those of the Ainu, are so obscure that its not likely that you will find them elsewhere.

Two maps, one of the Arctic region of North America, and the other of the Sub-Arctic region of North America, round out the book. I found it to be an excellent book and one of the few of it's kind readily available. My only complaint would be that nothing of the Saami (Lapps) was presented, and there were only a few tales from Siberia. Still, those are but minor issues considering how wonderful this book is regardless. Those with an interest in Native American (or general indigenous) culture, Shamanism and just mythology and religion in general should certainly look at this book. Its out of print now, but its still worth looking for if you can find it.

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