The White Dawn

by James Houston, James Houston, James A. Houston

Book Overview

In 1896, three survivors from a whaling misadventure are nursed back to health by Eskimo villagers who share their food, women, and way of life with the strangers. In return, the foreigners introduce to the villagers the spirit of competitiveness that rules the white man's world. Map and drawings by the Author.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 015696256X
• ISBN13: 9780156962568
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 275 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.7" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

One of My Top Five

"White Dawn" is one of the top five books I recommend (along with Goshawk Squadron, The Clearing, Time and Again and The Time Traveler's Wife). Different culture, different time, different people. Well done, easily read, and completely believable.

An excellent book on eskimo life

I read this book many years ago as a child on a recommendation from my father. He gave me his copy of the book before he died. The book's details on Inuit life and how it is affected by the inclusion of the sailors makes for great reading. This should be required reading in school and for any Sociology course.

Fascinating juxtaposition of European and Eskimo culture.

James Houston, a noted glass designer (for Steuben) lived among the Eskimos as a civil servant for the Canadian government. He helped them organize coops for the distribution of their art. This book is about the sailors who are taken in by Eskimos after their ship sinks. It vividly contrasts the highly organized and friendly Eskimo society with the unruly and often cruel code of the European seafarer. Great reading from an author who knows! Also recommend his Spiritwrestler.