Give me my father's body

Kenn Harper

"From the golden age of polar exploration comes the untold story of Minik, a young Eskimo boy from northwestern Greenland, brought to New York in 1897 by the American explorer Robert Peary. Minik, along with his father and four others, was presented to the American Museum of Natural History as one of six Eskimo "specimens." Four members of the group, including Minik's father, quickly died of exposure to strains of influenza to which they had little resistance. Another survived and returned to Greenland." "During his twelve years as the only Eskimo in New York City, Minik was stared at by the paying public, examined by doctors and scientists, and doted on by society ladies. His adoptive family went from riches to rags, and Minik's own life was shattered when he discovered his father's skeleton on display in the Museum of Natural History.". "Minik finally returned to his homeland in 1909, where he succeeded in relearning his native language and the hunting skills needed for survival. And yet he felt no more "at home" in the Arctic then he had in New York, and in 1916 he returned to America.". "Peopled with well-known figures in anthropology and Arctic exploration, such as Franz Boas, Robert Peary, Frederick Cook, Donald MacMillan, Knud Rasmussen, and Peter Freuchen, Minik's story tells of being caught between two conflicting cultures and of the devastating consequences that man's quest for fame and glory had on one small boy."--BOOK JACKET.