From Library Journal
Originally self-published in Greenland in 1986, this affecting work details the short, sad life of Minik, an orphaned Eskimo raised in America at the turn of the 20th century. On the surface, it is a tragic tale of a boy caught between two cultures, but more than that it is an expos? of the intellectual arrogance that permeated the race to explore the Arctic region during this period. In 1897, explorer Robert Peary brought Minik and five other Greenland Eskimos to New York to be studied as live "specimens" by the American Museum of Natural History. When four of them died, including Minik's father, Qisuk, their bodies were used for scientific research and kept for exhibit at the museum. Minik's accidental discovery of his father's remains, his unsuccessful attempts to have them returned to him, and the museum's refusal to acknowledge the truth or relinquish the bones reveal the inherent racism and pettiness of the scientific community. (Pressure created by the publication of this book finally caused the museum to release the remains in 1993.) Told in unembellished prose with heartbreaking excerpts from Minik's own writings, this powerful book is recommended for all public and academic libraries. [A foreword by Kevin Spacey is included.--Ed.]--Rose M. Cichy, Osterhout Free Lib., Wilkes-Barre, P.
---Rose M. Cichy, Osterhout Free Lib., Wilkes-Barre, PA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
A strange, well-recounted tale of scientific arrogance and cultural misunderstanding. In 1897 the fame-hungry Arctic explorer Robert Peary arrived in northwestern Greenland, the domain of supposedly wild Eskimos, to reconnoiter the country and recruit talented hunters to guide him to the North Pole. He carried with him a note from the anthropologist Franz Boas, a leading scientist at the American Museum of Natural History, that implored Peary to bring a middle-aged Eskimo to stay here over the winter. This would enable us to obtain leisurely certain information which will be of the greatest scientific importance. Peary satisfied Boass request, returning to New York with six live Eskimo specimens: five adults, along with a young boy named Minik. Four of the adults, including Miniks father, soon died of colds that had turned into pneumonia. Minik remained in New York for the next 12 years, a pet of high society, isolated from his culture and possessed of a terrible knowledge: that his fathers body had been carefully dismembered, analyzed, and then put on display in a skeleton case in the museums exhibit hall. Boas, Harper writes, then staged a fake burial to appease the boy, and keep him from discovering that his fathers body had been chopped up, an act of deception in which he saw nothing particularly deserving severe criticism. Minik finally was allowed to return to Greenland, but, having forgotten much of his peoples customs and language, was as much an outsider there as in New York. He eventually returned to the US, where he died in the great influenza epidemic of 1918. Harper, a writer and teacher who has lived in Eskimo country for more than 30 years, writes sympathetically but unsentimentally, although his disgust is abundant. He has done his homework well in ferreting out this forgotten episode, however, one that will likely turn a few readers stomachs as well. A moving account of science devastatingly and thoughtlessly misapplied, one of the countless tragedies visited on Native America.-- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
A graceful reconstruction . . . Harper's retelling is straightforward and simple, allowing the story to create its own compelling momentum. -- Newsday, July 16, 2000
A modern epic . . . lively and brisk . . . the pages percolate with issues of identity, exploitation, racism and misguided applications of pseudoscience. -- Washington Times, April 9, 2000
A richly sensitive and totally gripping account . . . Kenn Harper has written a remarkable narrative. -- Parade Magazine, July 16, 2000
Harper tells the very sad and sometimes infuriating story of Minik Wallace, most of the time leaving it to his readers to allocate their own dosages of sorrow and anger. -- The New York Times Book Review, Patricia Nelson Limerick
Superbly researched . . .Harper proves a diligent, objective journalist. . . an accomplished storyteller and historian, an able writer. -- The Columbus Dispatch, March 26, 2000
