Kenn Harper: Give me my Father's body

By MARGIE THOMSON

Minik, "the New York Eskimo", was one of only two survivors among the six Eskimos brought back as "live ethnographic specimens" to the United States from Greenland by the explorer Robert Peary in 1897, and displayed like circus freaks to crowds of thousands. Minik was only 8 years old at the time, and his father and friends died within months of their transplanting.

Minik was abandoned by Peary, who had bigger fish to fry, and found himself alone, knowing no one who spoke his language. He watched his beloved father buried in the grounds of the Natural History Museum, only to later discover that the funeral was a sham and that his father's bones were actually preserved in a glass case in the museum.

Minik was brought up by a museum employee to speak English and have American-style aspirations but that came to an end when his guardian was declared bankrupt. He tried for years to get back to Greenland and finally succeeded, only to discover the full extent of his life's tragedy: that he belonged nowhere.

Eventually returning to America, he died while still in his 20s during the 1918 flu epidemic.

Harper tells the story of his short, sad life with quiet passion, rigorous research and astounding, chilling clarity. The result is riveting, full (as the book's foreword says) of horrors and wonders.

Profile Books

$29.95