The Last Speaker of Bear is the patchwork story of a life spent traveling in the north from Alaska to Siberia. Lawrence Millman first visited northern Canada as a child and has spent four decades since on some thirty-five expeditions in search of undeveloped landscapes and traditional cultures, not to mention untamed wildlife. While much of his experience is centered in Canada—including territories from Yukon to Quebec and Newfoundland/Labrador—he includes stories from villages in Greenland, Iceland, and Norway as well.
Early on, Millman developed a reverence for the wisdom of indigenous and native communities with histories spanning centuries: Inuit, Inuk, Innu, Alutiiq, Cree, and others. Whether dining on mushrooms, fungus, tobacco leaves, or unusual foods that would have made even Andrew Zimmern or Anthony Bourdain turn up their noses, or exploring northern tundras, rugged mountains, or remote islands, he paints a picture of people often living in tenuous conditions but rooted in a faith that their worlds will provide for them. Relationships with bears, caribou, reindeer, walruses, seals, whales, and abundant avian life serve spiritual, companionship, and sustenance purposes. Traditions grounded in family and community rituals thrive, as do lost languages, natural medicine, and time-honored ways to survive difficult circumstances..
In this collection of vignettes, Millman reminds us of the potency of endangered knowledge as well as the importance of paying close attention to the natural world. He opens our eyes to a life in remote places thousands of miles from the fast-paced, urban world so many of us inhabit.
Table of Content
Table of Contents
Preface
Encounters with Northern Natives
ANNIE HENRY OF THE YUKON
SURVIVAL
COLLECTING LORE
ROSIE IQALLIJUQ, AN INTERVIEW
DREAMS
KILLING STORIES
HUDSON
AULD LANG SYNE
AN EXPERT MECHANIC
LONGEVITY
STRANGERS ON THE TUNDRA
AN ENCOUNTER WITH A QIVIQTOQ
SUPPORTING ART
A GREENLANDIC SOCCER MATCH
LATE TO SCHOOL
THE LAST WINDIGO
THE LAST SPEAKER OF BEAR
Encounters with Flora, Fauna, and Food
FLYING IN CHUKOTKA
A GRIZZLY ENCOUNTER
SEAL HUNTING
AVIAN INTELLECT
MEETING WITH A MUSK OX
THE INUIT PUJOALUK
STARVATION CUISINE
AN INUIT DELICACY
DOG FOOD
A DISH OF DEFECATION
IN AN ICELANDIC FOREST
STARING SESSION
THE ORIGIN OF BLOODTHIRSTINESS
ORNITHOLOGY IN THE YUKON
STICK FIGURES
Encounters with Remote Places
A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
ANOTHER WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
MAKING CONTACT
WHERE THE DEAD MEN REST
LEGENDS OF THE LOST
ANOTHER MISSING PERSON
A REMARKABLE PIMPLE
WRANGEL ISLAND’S WONDERS
LIQUID GOLD
THE BIGGEST BELLY IN THE WORLD
REACHING A SUMMIT
FARTHEST NORTH
ICELANDIC NOTES
EAST GREENLAND NOTES
THE BOYS OF WINTER
HELL ANIMAL
VIKING INVADERS
A NORTHERN HOLOCAUST
Encounters, Miscellaneous in Nature
AN EXPEDITION CRUISE
A VINTAGE ENCOUNTER
COLD COMFORT
REMEMBERING ELLIOTT MERRICK
AT THE GRAVE OF A MORAVIAN ESKIMO CHIEFTAIN
MEETING HELGI PJETURRS
A HEROINE OF THE ARCTIC
MEETING HALLDOR LAXNESS
A RARIFIED BALLAD
MURDERED BY A MADMAN
A CHAT ABOUT EVIL SPIRITS
SOME LIKE IT HOT
THE ULTIMATE SOCIAL DISTANCER
CODA: WIND BLASTED
About the author
Lawrence Milliam is an arctic explorer and mycologist. He has taught at Tufts University, the University of Iceland, University of Minnesota, Vermont College, and Harvard University (Extension) and is the author of sixteen books, including At the End of the World and Fungipedia. He has received a Guggenheim Award, Fulbright Fellowship, and Bush Foundation Fellowship. He has appeared in major media including National Geographic, the Atlantic Monthly, Smithsonian, Sports Illustrated, Outside, the Times Literary Supplement, the Boston Globe, the London Sunday Times, and the Journal of American Folklore. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.More ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
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