Minik, the New York Eskimo
Minik, the New York Eskimo: An Arctic Explorer, a Museum, and the Betrayal of the Inuit People Havover, NH: Steerforth Press $17 (US), $20 (CA) By Kenn Harper Reviewed by Russell A. Potter This is a new, and substantially revised edition of Kenn Harper's book, which was originally titled Give Me My Father's Body: The Life of Minik, the New York Eskimo. Originally published in 1986 by Blacklead Books in Iqaluit (then still known as Frobisher Bay), the book recounts in plain yet passionate detail the sad details of the life of Minik (or Mene) Wallace, a young boy who was among a group of Inuit brought back from northwest Greenland by Robert Peary, at the seeming behest of his sponsors, particularly Morris Jesup of the Museum of Natural History, and the anthropologist Franz Boas. The first US edition of the book came out from Steerforth in 2001; we reviewed the book in what was, at the time, only the second 'issue' of the Arctic Book Review. And we stand by everything w