When the Whalers Were Up North: Inuit Memories from the Eastern Arctic [Paperback]

Dorothy Harley Eber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1996

The author tells a story drawn from oral memories, a story which will soon disappear with the last Inuit generation to have seen the whalers. Illuminated by a remarkable collection of drawings, photographs, and illustrations, many in full colour, tales are told of when the whalers first appeared on the north-east coast of Baffin Island, how they set up land stations in the whale-rich waters of Cumberland Sound, and how they eventually pushed on into Hudson Bay. During this time the Inuit not only fed and clothed the whalers, they hunted with them, adding to the whalers' wealth. Our understanding of change in Inuit life is often linked to the fur traders, who arrived in the North fifty years after the arrival of the whalers. In truth it is the Inuit's close contact with the foreign world of the whalers which marked the beginning of a change in previously undisturbed Inuit culture and traditions.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A gem of a book ... Eber has succeeded well in elucidating the interaction between Eastern Arctic Inuit and the American and Scottish whalemen who came to Cumberland Sound, Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay in the century before the last whaler left in 1915 ... Anyone interested in the socio-economic impact of Arctic whaling, the Inuit, or the ethnological record of such inter-cultural contact will find this book worthy of study." Briton C. Busch, Argonauta. "A remarkable collection of Eastern Arctic lore." Books in Canada. "A major contribution to Inuit social history." Mick Mallon, Nunatsiaq News.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 187 pages
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press (April 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806128526
• ISBN-13: 978-0806128528
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,606,371 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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