After decades exploring Siberian cultures, Kira Van Deusen turned to the Canadian north to ask many such questions, looking at them through the versions of one of their most respected legends - that of hero/shaman Kiviuq, an Inuit counterpart to Homer's Odysseus - told by forty Inuit elders. The elders' voices engage us directly, inviting us to look at the unique qualities of arctic heroism and its application to present-day concerns. Rich details from each of the elders' families help explain interpersonal challenges to survival in the north and offer both practical and spiritual lessons. Van Deusen also points out intriguing cultural connections across the Bering Strait, past and present.

Kira Van Deusen is a storyteller and musician who has done extensive research on the oral traditions of Siberian Indigenous Peoples and the Canadian Inuit. Her previous books include Kiviuq: An Inuit Hero and his Siberian Cousins and The Flying Tiger: Women Shamans and Storytellers of the Amur. She lives in Vancouver, BC.

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