The People of the Polar North: A Record

Knud Rasmussen

Jan 1908 · London : K. Paul, Trench, Trübner

Ratings and reviews

Knud Rasmussen's book: People of the Polar North is a fascinating account of his years traveling and living among the Eastern Inuit or Greenlandic peoples. He actually tells very little about his travels but primarily collects the stories of the people he visits and befriends as he travels. Given that all this occurred early in Greenland's colonization by the Danes, it gives a really insightful picture of the lives of these native people prior to and during early contact. If you have actual contact with Greenland, you'll really appreciate his later stories about the Eastern Greenlanders and perhaps appreciate the plight of these still very isolated people. He interviewed these Eastern folk after their conversion to Christianity and their move to the western coast. I am not an anthropologist, but Rasmussen seems to be a very sensitive and artistic fellow and really attempts to tell the stories of the people without interjecting his own western biases. He also illustrated the book with (what I assumed are) his own beautiful pen and ink drawings.