Book of the Eskimos
by Peter Freuchen
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Description
Experience Life Among the World's Northernmost PeopleThroughout history, few cultures have seemed more mysterious than the native hunter-gatherer societies of the far north. These nomadic people often thrived in unforgiving conditions on frozen, treeless terrain above the Arctic Circle, where mere survival was an everyday challenge. Known among themselves simply as the People, the Inuit men and women that Europeans called "Eskimos" existed for centuries in harmony with the unforgiving show more natural world around them; when times were good they prospered on natural bounties, and when times were bad they overcame the bleakest of conditions just to make it through. Prior to their contact with many other Europeans in the early twentieth century, Danish explorer Peter Freuchen befriended and lived among the Inuit in Greenland. He studied their language and ways of life firsthand, eventually marrying and having children with an Inuit woman there. Since they were a people with no written language, Freuchen's captivating observations offered the rest of the world some of the earliest eyewitness accounts of "Eskimo" lifestyle. Before his account was published, Western writers often romanticized the life of the Inuit; where others pictured a near-mythological life of hardship in an inhospitable landscape of icy bleakness, Freuchen revealed the tapestry of a rich and storied culture set in a world of raw beauty. Examining pre-westernized Inuit societies in Greenland, northern Canada, and Alaska, Freuchen's Book of the Eskimos is a rare and uniquely personal portrait of the indigenous people of the Arctic. Brimming with fascinating information, color, humor, and warmth, this classic chronicle of the everyday lives and customs of these resourceful communities and families offers a completely engaging immersion into a foreign land and an excellent introduction to the tenacious people living at the top of the world. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
The great explorer tells about Eskimo life in detail, in numerous stories from his own experience. He speaks frankly about the social structure and the sexual habits of the Eskimo people in his unusual essays, sometimes shocking data. "Fascinating, easy and pleasurable reading," says the Book-of-the-Month Club News.
This book is a descriptive description of a vanishing way of life. Some of the culinary descriptions were very vivid!
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Author Information
46+ Works 1,158 Members
Danish explorer, journalist, and author, Peter Freuchen was born in Nykobing, Falster, Denmark, and studied at the University of Copenhagen. Freuchen made his first trip to the Arctic in 1906, joining the Knut Rasmussen expedition. Fascinated by the Arctic, he was a member of the famous Thule expeditions (1910-1925) in northwestern Greenland. He show more also served as governor of the Thule colony from 1913 to 1920. Off and on for more than two generations he lived, hunted, and traveled with the Inuit, understanding them better than any other man of his generation. His first wife was an Inuit, about whom he wrote in Invalu, the Eskimo Wife (1935). Fliers en route from Fort Churchill to distant Arctic air bases can still trace their course by landmarks Freuchen first put on the map. He aided refugees from the Nazis during the late 1930s and was active in the Underground movement after Denmark was occupied and before his own escape to Sweden. In 1957 Freuchen won the Gold Medal of the International Benjamin Franklin Society for his "service to mankind in opening new frontiers." (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original title
- Peter Freuchens bog om eskimoerne
- Alternate titles*
- Peter Freuchen's Book of the Eskimos
- People/Characters*
- Peter Freuchen
- Important places
- USA; Alaska, USA
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Anthropology, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Travel, History
- DDC/MDS
- 919.8 — History & geography Geography & travel Geography of and travel in Australasia, Pacific Ocean islands, Atlantic Ocean islands, Arctic islands, Antarctica and on extraterrestrial worlds Polar regions
- LCC
- E99 .E7 .F7 — History of the United States America Indians of North America Indian tribes and cultures
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 255
- Popularity
- 127,052
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.81)
- Languages
- Danish, Dutch, English, Swedish
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 14
