In Those Days: Inuit and Explorers (In Those Days: Collected Writings on Arctic History, 5)

Martin Frobisher journeyed from England in 1576 to seek a passage through or around the North American continent in order to reach the riches of Asia. He was probably the first recorded ‘white man’ to seek the North Pole. George Perry’s claim to have succeeded centuries later, in 1909, was challenged by Dr. Frederick Cook, who claimed to have reached the goal the preceding year. The contest is still unresolved.

Kenn Harper’s Arctic history In Those Days describes the lives and adventures, and all too often the misadventures, of the explorers who teamed with the Inuit, the indigenous people living in the regions of the far north.

The tales found in Harper’s essays do not appear consecutively, and the different versions can be confusing. More importantly for some readers, the excellent map lacks a gazetteer, so the distances are unknown. Due to no fault of the author or the subjects, readers may struggle to identify the complexity of the spelling and likely the pronunciation of the Inuit who played such a vital role in the history.

The black and white photographs from the past are quite wonderful, and certainly compensate for the book’s minor distractions.