Gift of the Whale: The Inupiat Bowhead Hunt, a Sacred Tradition [Hardcover]

Bill Hess (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1999

Photographer and writer Bill Hess shares a deeply moving portrait of a remote region, its people, and whale-hunting, one of the oldest and most sacred cultural traditions.

The Inupiat Eskimos on the north coast of Alaska have been hunting whales since the beginning of time. Their way of life has evolved around the seasonal cycle of ice and migration, and Bill Hess offers us a rare look at this difficult yet beautiful culture. His duotone photographs of the Inupiat, the harsh Arctic landscape, wildlife, and subsistence hunting are powerful, remarkable images that illustrate the importance of whaling to a people who continue to survive, and to find joy in their survival, against great odds. Gift of the Whale is a remarkable addition to the anthropological and cultural history of Alaska.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The yearly hunt for bowhead whales of the Inupiat (Eskimos) living around Barrow, Alaska, is central to their culture and traditions. A new book that is part anthropology, part documentary, and wholly satisfying captures the lives of these people. Hess, a photographer and writer who has worked for years among Native Americans, spent a number of years living with the hunters and documenting their hunts for bowhead and beluga whales and smaller prey, such as sews. The Inupiat initiated the author into the hunt the same way they initiate their own teenagers--by putting him to work cooking for the hunters, cleaning the camp, and helping to move the umiak (whale boat) to its launch site by snow machine. The skill of the hunters and their knowledge of the biology of the whales generally allow for a successful hunt, and the blubber, meat, and other whale products not only provide food but are the basis for the entire culture as the sharing of the whale ties the community together. The aboriginal right to hunt bowhead whales (an endangered species) remains controversial, but Hess' book presents a strong case for the cultural and spiritual side of the argument and as such is highly recommended. Nancy Bent

From Kirkus Reviews

Through intensely atmospheric pictures and a rawboned text, photographer and journalist Hess documents here his 20-year association with the annual Iupiat whale hunt in Barrow, Akaska. The text has the quality of fleshed-out diary entries, as Hess recounts the specifics of the hunt and select incidents from this frigid North Slope landscape. There is the search for a hunter gone missing on a night too cold to be out; the multinational rescue of three gray whales doomed by thickening ice; and a rogue storm that rudely exposes the burial place of a shaman. Hess does a yeoman's job explaining the tradition of the hunt: how the whale morphs between dietary mainstay and ages-old relict in the Iupiat cosmology; the hunter's conduct; and how the sorry history of Yankee whaling in the region has affected the Iupiat by taking numberless whales to satisfy the demand for corsets and leaving behind disease and quotas on the native harvest. But its the photographs that really sing. The black-and-white images project a deep antiquity situated squarely in the present, skillfully conveying both the respect accorded these creatures and the wholesale joy and sense of community the whales bring to the far, far north. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Sasquatch Books; 1St Edition edition (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570611637
• ISBN-13: 978-1570611636
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 9.7 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #216,968 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bill Hess Portrays the Reality of Arctic Life and Whaling, December 18, 1999

By 

Chris Wooley (Anchorage, Alaska) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gift of the Whale: The Inupiat Bowhead Hunt, a Sacred Tradition (Hardcover)

This book is a milestone among recent publications on Alaska because it portrays Alaska's Native people in an unvarnished and realistic way. This is NOT a commercial "coffee table book" or a series of pretty pictures suitable for note cards. A short story, hopefully, will illustrate my point.

When I was living in Barrow in the late 1980s, the mayor asked me to meet with a visiting photographer who had requested information on traditional whale hunting (I was a staff anthropologist at the time). The Anchorage photographer [NOT Bill Hess] wanted to "reconstruct" a whale hunt. This commercial photographer pleaded to have me call him in Anchorage next time a whale was harpooned so he could catch the next plane to Barrow (he had already talked the airline into sponsoring him). He promised that he would stage the photograph to show the local people in the best possible light and make them appreciated by all the tourists who come to Alaska.

After nearly throwing up, I politely told him that the Inupiat whale hunters were quite capable of taking care of themselves and did not need to be "airbrushed" and marketed for popular consumption.

Then I met Bill Hess. I immediately connected with his visceral understanding of Inupiat culture which he communicates so elegantly in words and photos in this book "Gift of the Whale." This book communicates a vision of contemporary Inupiat life that is unvarnished and somewhat raw; but - from my firsthand experience - authentic.

Bill Hess knows what it's like to sweat while breaking a sled trail through jumbled ice floes at 20 below. He earned his unique chance to communicate the symbiotic relationship between Inupiat hunters and the bowhead whale. This book takes the reader out onto the Arctic Ocean (in both its frozen and liquid state) and into the skin boats, skiffs, snowmachines and tents of crews who provide their families with life-giving food. The real stories (illustrated with stunning duotone photos of the people and the animals that are simultaneously revered and killed for survival) are more interesting and insightful than any pseudo-reality a market-driven journalist could create.

Bill Hess, through his photos and stories in this book, communicates how Inupiat culture continues to focus on the communal hunting and sharing of food for survival. This book communicates in vivid detail how impractical contemporary Western values of individual ego-driven materialism are when it's 20 below zero with the snow blowing sideways, and a fellow hunter is lost on the tundra. Bill illustrates how Inupiat society is built on respect and reverence for the resources and each other, keys to long-term survival in the Arctic. This book provides a visual banquet allowing the reader to enjoy and appreciate contemporary Inupiat whaling, life, and culture.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply outstanding!, January 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Gift of the Whale: The Inupiat Bowhead Hunt, a Sacred Tradition (Hardcover)

I have done a great deal of reading in my life, yet never have I been more absorbed in a book than I have in 'Gift of the Whale'. I highly recommend this elegant, enjoyable and informative piece of work.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning, June 13, 2000

By 

John P. Milon (Barrow, Alaska United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gift of the Whale: The Inupiat Bowhead Hunt, a Sacred Tradition (Hardcover)

This is a stunning visual presentation combined with a moving, unpretentious text. The drama of the three grey whales, the search for footprints . . . it is all powerful stuff. I have only been living in Barrow for nine months but so far there isn't a word that doesn't ring true.