ADA BLACKJACK : A TRUE STORY OF SURVIVAL IN THE ARCTIC
by Jennifer Niven

Wrangel Island was a desolate, uninhabited outpost in the Arctic. Nobody had ever been there before, let alone knew who it belonged to.
Vilhjalmur Stefansson decided that it should be colonized, for Canada, and recruited four young men to live off the land with supplies good for only six months. The parents were less than happy, but the sons all idolized Stefansson (an explorer, himself) and would do anything for him.
They were hoping to have some Eskimos join them, but they all backed out, until Ada Blackjack, a 23-year-old Inuit woman from Nome, Alaska, came along. She was their seamstress.
So, in 1921, the party of five set off on a ship and were deposited on the island.
Ada Blackjack is one hell of a story. Jennifer Niven, the author, was able to use Ada Blackjack's diaries, which had never been seen before, unpublished writings from other important characters and interviews with Ada's second son.
Loaded with history and incredible photographs, this book knocks you with a wallop.
Recommended.