Top of the World

196 Pages·1982·9.057 MB·English

by  Hans Ruesch

“A BRILLIANT FEAT” 7:
j / —The New York Times
‘TOP OF THE WORLD
Although this remarkable international
best seller is fiction, the Eskimo life it re-— i
’ flects is entirely authentic. The social, sex-
ual, and eating habits of its characters,
their religious beliefs, medical practices,
and other modes and manners have all
_ been attested to by recognized authorities
on the Arctic and its inhabitants.
ee Thomas Mann said, Top of the World .%
s “a gripping work which enables the
oe to gain insight into an entirely new
rI e
world.”i
There’ s a great deal to be said for the
Eskimos. Mr. Ruesch says it movingly, fac-
tually, and with a rarefied simplicity.”
—Saturday Review
ee ol eRe
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a of the
World
a novel by
HANS RUESCH
POCKET BOOKS, a Simon & Schuster division of
GULF & WESTERN CORPORATION
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020
Copyright 1944, 1946, 1950, © 1973b y Hans Ruesch.
Copyright 1945 by The Curtis Publishing Company
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce
this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue
of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020
ISBN: 0-671-46720-4
First Pocket Books printing May, 1951 (12 printings)
Revised edition published September, 1973
1514 SIS 121s d0
POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of
Simon & Schuster.
Printed in the U.S.A.
CONTENTS
on.
Cold Facts
1 _ The Men
2 ~ Woman Hunt
3we., The Facts of Life .
‘The Bargain = a
5. White Man in the White Land ;
fe The Road to the North ea
7. The Long Journey

COLD FACTS
As each appearance of one of my Eskimo stories, in
_ an American magazine or abroad, has entailed a del-
_ uge of letters inquiring whether the background I.
_ used had any factual base, I now wish to state be-
_ forehand that the social, sexual, and alimentary hab-
_ its, the religious beliefs, the medical practices, and
_ other modes and manners described in this book, _
though it sails under the flag of fiction, are sober -
_ ethnological facts, applying chiefly to the Central
_ Eskimos. They are corroborated (with due allow-
ances for regional and tribal variations) by such ex-
_ plorers as Fritjof Nansen, Kai Birket-Smith, Knud
_ Rasmussen, Peter Freuchen, Vilhjalmur Stefansson,
_ Franz Boas, and other recognized authorities on the
_ Arctic and its inhabitants. I strongly recommend
_ their reports to anyone interested in documentary
__ evidence on the subject, which is beyond the purpose
of this novel.
_____ The Eskimos’ buoyant happiness and gaiety is as
_ undenied as it is unexplained; some choose to at-
_ tribute it to their vivifying diet. The occasional clash-
__ es of Christian missionaries with the native popula-
z 2