Customer Reviews

Give Me My Father's Body: The Life of Minik, the New York Eskimo

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The story of Minik, a young Inuk who was taken from his home in Greenland by Peary along with several adult Inuit, is told with tremendous feeling and clarity by Nunavut author Kenn Harper. Minik, whose father was "studied" by anythropologists even as he was dying of tuberculosis, was left an orphan, and further subjected to the horrible deception of a sham burial conducted with a coffin filled with stones, while his father's body was displayed as a human specimen in the Museum of Natural History. Among those who 'studied' his father was Arthur Kroeber, the so-called "discoverer" of Ishi, and father of novelist Ursula K. LeGuin.

Harper tells this tragic story with remarkable control, and Kevin Spacey contributes a brief but engaging foreword to the book, which he is working to make into a motion picture.

As Kevin Spacey says in his foreword, "there is not a page in this book without its horrors and wonders." When I read a description of this book in a newspaper article - a six-year-old Eskimo boy who is brought to New York in 1897 by Robert Peary, then abandoned by Peary when the adults in the group become ill, and in effect set adrift when he is orphaned - I thought this tale in itself sounded interesting. But I was pleasantly surprised to discover the book to be far richer, with more interestng characters and unexpected twists and turns than I ever could have imagined. Though the book has many new and revealing things to say about famous figures from the goldn age of polar exploration and is the first major book I know to tell its story from the perspective of the indigenous Inuit, it is largely a fascinating period piece from turn-of-the-century New York City. The characters reveal themseles slowly, as in the best fiction; Mr. Harper has done a world class job of fleshing out the details, and his unadorned writing style allows the focus to remain on his characters and story, where it belongs. I couldn't put this book down, and still can't stop talking about it to friends.

Things done in the name of science to the autochthonous people in this hemisphere have engendered support or cries of "genocide" from various factions. That theme, as well as that of a man caught between two worlds, and stories about those themes have been with us for centuries.

This book grabbed my attention when I saw it on a book shelf yesterday and held my attention until I finished reading it in the early hours of this morning. What was new to me was the tale of Minik and the first transport of his Inuit people to New York in 1897. I found the details of their lives in Greenland to be a refreshing filling of my vacant knowedge of this group of people.

This is a tale of (what I perceive to be)corruption on the part of hallowed institutions such as the American Museum of Natural History and the explorer Robert Peary. With only a modicum of knowledge of American history of the sciences I found the roles of Franz Boas, Peter Freuchen and other historical noteables to be fascinating as they became important embroidery to the content of this story. For those of us who discuss (on our better days 80) the emotional issues surrounding the interaction between "scientists" and native peoples there are potentially positive responses from each camp of readers. Folks who see "scientific" study of native peoples to be fraught with potential or acutal abuse and misuse will be able to say 'here we go again; science with no conscience'. Though this is not addressed in the book, those from the science side of the issue will be able to point out how much science has changed. Perhaps, those of us between camps will be able to see both perspectives and, hopefully, be a part of dialogue which could find a way of bringing together people who have been separated for so long, and perhaps we shall be able to ensure such an incident does not happen again.

While parallels between Minik and Ishi are perhaps inescapable, the life of Minik, brought to us by author Kenn Harper, was to me utterly believable and accessible. Harper's writing style I found to be clear and empathetic. His research appeared to be quite subtantial if not exhaustive. For those who like a linear style of story, this should be an easy read.

In the end it is a story of human cultural diversity and how diverse values play out in the lives of human beings. The author described those who may be viewed here as villans carefully including historical context. I found myself swept along by my own biases and felt very different attitudes about "science" than the author exhibited in the telling of the story. I appreciate an author who can engender such a response from me as a reader.

The story is a unique specific of a familiar American generality. Minik was caught between two worlds, a victim of a society's unwillingness to question things done in the name of science. Ultimately, this is a very human story. I found the story at times heart warming, at others heart breaking, but always educational.

john

I might not have discovered this book if Kevin Spacey hadn't decided to buy the film rights and write a forword to the new edition. This well-written, meticulously researched history has left me almost breathless. If you are at all disposed to history, biography, anthropology, or any other study of human nature and experience, do read this book. As Harper recounts the events of Minik's life, the age of Polar discovery draws nearer to the present day. I stopped at times to wonder how far we've come in understanding people different from ourselves, in respecting not just the "idea" of diversity, but diversity itself. As we embrace the fashions, foods, even religions of other cultures, I hope we are not losing sight of what lies beneath our differences: an undeniable similarity, a shared distinction that I can only describe as the fundamental nobility of humanity.

Minik's story is one you will never forget. Kenn Harper has lived among the Inuit people for some 30 years, and his treatment of Minik's life story is both enthralling and starkly simple. There are many kind and cruel people who become involved in Minik's life, but only a few really cared about him as a person. Many were only interested in his people as "cultural artifacts" and as literal side-show attractions to make money.

The book explores both sides of Minik's world: his homeland in Greenland, and that of his new life in America. The author effectively shows the dire consequences when these two worlds will not mesh together, and Minik is left as a man with no country, in the most literal sense of the word.

Once you start reading his story, you won't want to put it down. Read it then recommend it to everyone you know!

I first bought the self-published edition of Kenn Harper's "Give Me My Father's Body" after meeting him at an upstate New York museum. Later I was able to bring him to an international conference at the Byrd Polar Research Center where he discussed the inter-relationship between the Polar Eskimo and Cook, Peary and other white explorers of the late 19th and early 20th century.

His well-deserved mainline publishing of the second edition gains the recognition his work did not receive a decade or more ago. It is a tragic yet revealing story of our turn-of-the-century imperial culture expressed by Americanb treatment of all "native" peoples, and extended in this case to the northernmost inhabitants.

The real story here besides the individual dimension of Minik and his extended true and adopted family is the chauvinistic arrogance of the museum community and its agents "in the field" during this period. One of these was Robert E. Peary, who brought Minik and his fellow tribesmen to New York, all of who except Minik were abandoned in a damp basement room at the American Museum of Natural History, succumbing of tuberculosis.

The title refers to Minik's plea to obtain his father's skeleton, which had been "mounted and preserved at the Museum" following its dissection at Bellevue Hospital. The contemptable action of the Miseum in staging a fake burial is something that the Nazis and Soviets woulkd perfect later in the century.

The issue of treating aboriginal tribes as but chattel to the particular expedition that comes into contact with them was prominent with Peary, who saw the Polar Eskimo as but exploration inventory along with the dogs and sledges. This extended to his contempt for their welfare, having removed the three Cape York meteorites in 1894 and 1897 despte the fact that they constituted the Eskimo's only source of weapons and implements.

While this undertaking might have been to shift public attention from Peary's expedition failures--most of his biographere speculate upon this--another might have been sheer greed. Peary took the meteorites from Greenland, a country with a loose sovereignty to Denmark, without even asking the tribe which depended upon them as a source for metal. He "presented": them to his wife, who in turn "sold" them to the wife of Morris K. Jessup, the president of the Am,erican Museum and also of the Peary Arctic Club, who in turn "donated" them to the Museum. The Peary's realized $50,000, a nice sum in the 1890s, and the procedure was classic period textbook for wills and trusts.

Harper also relates that Minik contributed something of value about the controversy bertween Peary and his onetime exploration surgeon Frederick A. Cook, over their respective claims of having reached the North Pole. Minik knew both of their expedition companions from the Polar Eskimo tribe, saying that Peary's account was held in doubt while "Cook made a great trip north." More telling was the tribe's assessment of both men: "Peary is hated for his cruelty...(while) Cook is loved by all." Yet like the native American, their opinions counted little when it came to "the white man's business."

Thank heavens someone found this book and had it reprinted for the rest of us to read! It would have been such a waste of a wonderful writer and an interesting story if others had not had an opportunity to enjoy this. As written in this book when reading history, Carl Sagan said we need to remember to put the people in context of the social norms of the society they lived in. However, kindness never goes in and out of fashion, and this was well illustrated by the people, both good and bad, whom Minik had the unfortunate luck to fall in with. I knew from what little I had seen of Peary, that he was like many men and explorers of that period...egotistical, vain, pompous, full of himself, and oblivious to others. I did not realize how far these traits of his affected others. The absolute gall of this man to place the lives of other human beings in danger, which he most certainly knew he would be doing if he brought the Polar Eskimos to New York, is beyond infuriating. It is with great patience that Harper writes this book. As you can see, I would hardly be so magnanimous. Peary does not deserve any accolades for anything he did. He totally deserves to be relagated to the dusty corners of museums to which Peary left the family of Minik!

Harper does a wonderful job of writing. I have rarely read a biography or history book that reads as easily as a novel, as this book does. Perhaps it is the topic that is so interesting, but the author does such a complete job of telling the story with little biased or prejudiced input. He lets Minik's own words speak for themselves about how he felt about the situation he had been placed in. The book is void of speculation or assumptions that are often made by those writing history or biographies...no Freudian or other psychological analyzation is done on any of the characters in this story, even if the reader is wondering what the heck these guys were thinking or even if they were thinking!

Harper tells the whole story of the people involved even if detrimental to their memories. I have to say that even though Minik's foster father had done some things considered wrong in the eyes of the world (he played fast and furious with museum and business interests), in the end he did as much as he could to help his foster son, and certainly did much more than Peary or the other scientific nincompoops did. Karen L. Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh

This fascinating true account of an Inuit boy caught between two cultures, and seeking dignity and justice, will be "enjoyed" by those interested in different cultures, exploration of polar regions, and people who seek justice for indigenous peoples. I like stories of society at the turn of the century, and having lived in the extremely cold climates of northern New York's North Country for some years, I am interested in how people exist and keep their sanity in climatically-inhospitable areas of the world. The turn of the century's patriarchal view that more "primitive" peoples were uncivilized curiosities and therefore inhuman, are thoroughly investigated and displayed in this book.

I first saw this book advertised in the newspaper's Sunday Parade section about nine months ago and I clipped it out. The unusual title, Minik's innocent and troubling picture, and short blurb said that this would be a subject worth exploring. I found it in my local library and first of all, I was surprised to see a foreward by Kevin Spacey, an actor whom I respect for his talent and depth. I can see why this compelling story could be visualized by him as a great vehicle for a film. (Please select an Inuit actor!)

I was engrossed in the story and pitied poor Minik for the terrible treatment he received from the highest, learned echelon of our so-called civilized society. Minik's group of 6 people were used as curiosities with no thought as to the possibilites of fatal illness, depression or feelings of displacement they might suffer. Peary was an absolute scoundrel! I think toward the end of his life, Minik was finding the happiness which had eluded him all his life, God bless him. The untruthful, unethical and immoral treatment of Minik, his father's and his peoples' remains and tools stolen by the American Museum of Natural History in New York City will make me shudder to cross its threshold ever again. Gives me the shivers!

Read this book for a fascinating story of one man's search for dignity and a home place. It is in such details as these that a government and society show its true colors. I am very glad to see that Native Americans now demand and are given a great deal more respect and better treatment about their implements, burial sites and holy places. Still the US goverment and our modern society has not even scratched the surface. We have a long way to go toward tolerance and fair treatment. Many Native Americans still suffer in substandard housing with no heat or plumbing, poor nutrition, education, and all the social evils that come when people have no hope for a better tomorrow. Perhaps Minik's story will create dialogue about dignity and justice for all people. We owe it to Native Americans, in Minik's memory, to continue that dialogue.

Kenn Harper's biography of Minik Peary Wallace was a fascinating look at not just the sad life of a young Eskimo brought to this country as a "specimen" but also provided a unique perspective of the society which allowed it to happen.

They may have been referred to as the "good old days," but in the day and age when circuses toured the country with freaks, the "acquisition" of 'primitive' people by institutions such as New York's Museum of Natural History was only marginally more respectable. (In my humble opinion.)

Minik, who was just seven years old when brought to New York City from his native Greenland along with his father and four others, quickly fell ill, but unlike all but one of the others --lived.

The other survivor returned to Greenland within the year, but Minik remained behind to be raised by the Museum's Supervisor of Buildings as an adopted son. That the museum arranged a "burial" of Minik's father, but in reality kept the bones for display, was just one of many deceptions Minik was saddled with over the years.

As a word of warning. Don't expect to sail through a reading of this book. The names alone* will slow you down. Not that that's a bad thing: Think of it like driving on cobblestones. You're forced to go slowly, but you get to enjoy the view. Photographs interspersed throughout the text helped to bring things a little more to "life."

* Names such as Aleqasinnguaq, Nukappiannguaq, Qisunnaguaq, Atangana, Angutilluarsuk, and Taliilannguaq to name a few. They don't really roll off the tounge!

Kenn Harper has managed to bring together an amazing story through detailed research. Minik, the Polar Eskimo child, was brought to the US by Robert Peary and essentially placed on display. The story of his disconnected life is full of pathos and sorrow. Yet Harper weaves the story with life.

Peary's behaviors were simply egotistic and reprehensible. He treated the Eskimos as his property. He placed their lives in harms' way by bringing them to a culture and location that assaulted their senses and immune systems. Minik was the price paid for that deed.

I did get bogged down in names from time to time, especially as Harper recounted the financial misdealings of Wallace, who had taken responsibility for Minik. But overall, the story is entertaining and enlightening. It speaks to the ethnocentrism of Peary's generation and to the isolation of the Polar Eskimos. It took me a long time to read and absorb this book but it was rewarding in the end... to see and feel a culture so far away.