Product Description

In 1871, Charles Francis Hall's Polaris expedition set out to be the first official American party to reach the North Pole. Five months later, the Polaris had become locked in ice and Hall was dead-likely murdered. The expedition members were set adrift for six months on the icy seas: a fifteen-hundred-mile journey that all survived, thanks to the skills of Hall's translator, Tookoolito, a thirty-four-year-old woman subsequently referred to as the "Sacagawea of the Ice."

In Midnight to the North, Sheila Nickerson brings to life the emotional struggle of a wildly various group of people forced to stay together-despite one another's self-centered failings-during circumstances of extreme desperation. Imaginatively re-creating Tookoolito's life, she describes the Inuit woman's decades-long relationship with Hall; her presentation to the English court and experience as an exhibit in P. T. Barnum's museum; and the undermining of her sturdy faith in her native heritage by Hall's stern and often treacherous world.

A meticulously researched, gripping story of awesome peril and fascinating insight, Midnight to the North debunks contemporary Polaris accounts and reveals an untold side of Arctic exploration.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #943200 in Books
• Published on: 2002-02-22
• Released on: 2002-03-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Few Arctic exploration books offer a more compelling subject than Nickerson's account of Tookoolito, an Inuit woman she holds largely responsible for the survival of half the Polaris crew, who were stranded on an ice floe and abandoned by their ship in 1871. The book traces Tookoolito's life through the writings of the Polaris's original captain, Francis Hall, and George Tyson, the man in charge of the ice-floe party (who became Captain Tyson after Hall's mysterious demise). The story is engaging if slightly overwritten when it recounts the time when Hall was in command, explaining Tookoolito's life and experiences, as well as the ways she and her Inuit husband interacted with Westerners and Western society and vice versa. Nickerson is outstanding in illustrating Inuit customs, culture and legends; even seasoned readers of Arctic exploration books will learn something about Inuit ways. After Hall's death, however, the book suffers from a lack of information about Tookoolito, as Tyson and Tookoolito's husband, Ebierbing, emerge as strong characters. Much of this latter half of the story feels quickly told rather than carefully shown; Nickerson tries to compensate for the gaps with ramblings about, for instance, her research time in the library, astrophysics and her aging, ailing mother. These extraneous tidbits detract, and many readers will resent Nickerson's insertion of herself into what should be entirely Tookoolito's story. Still, the unique subject and Nickerson's real command of Inuit culture should carry the book through her digressions.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
An American explorer, Charles Francis Hall set out in 1871 to travel to the North Pole. His team traveled aboard the Polaris and included his translator, an Inuit woman named Tookoolito. Hall died within five months, the Polaris became trapped in ice, and his team ended up divided, with half stuck on a floating section of ice. Nickerson, the poet laureate of Alaska from 1977 to 1981 and a two-time winner of the Pushcart Prize, attempts to describe Tookoolito's life and how she helped the 19 team members survive on the ice for six and a half months. This book intertwines historical accounts of the time with Nickerson's recollections of the research process and her own sick mother. While successfully describing the hostile and difficult conditions faced by those trying to survive in the harsh northern climate, Nickerson's poetic recollections also seem ill matched to the rest of the book. In the initial chapters, she states that Tookoolito played a major part in the team's survival, but she rarely mentions her in the chapters describing the ice journey. Buy for the accurate descriptions of life in the North but not for women's studies collections. Alison Hopkins, Queens Borough P.L., NY
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The Polaris expedition set off in 1871 to reach the North Pole but ended in disaster--the commander murdered, the ship destroyed, and the party split up. The fact that anyone survived may be a miracle, but it was due in large part to the expertise of the native Inuit who accompanied the group. Nickerson's account praises the efforts of the native woman Tookoolito. Her loyalty to the expedition leader, even after his death, kept her with a group of men from the Polaris that holed up on the drifting ice for eight months, even though she and her husband could have fended much better for themselves without the inexperienced and totally dependent foreigners to care for. Nickerson occasionally loses focus and wanders into personal musings, yet her book may be the first to shed light on this little-mentioned historical figure. Worth noting also is that Nickerson hypothesizes a different murderer than other Polaris accounts, though perhaps not as convincingly. Quick and worthwhile to read. Gavin Quinn
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