Etok

the long version

This biography of Charles Edwardsen, Jr. (Etok), an Eskimo radical, is the story of the struggle to protect Alaska Native land rights and way of life in the face of the relentless onslaught of Western culture. Etok is a contradiction in terms -- wild-eyed and mystic, by turns incredibly rude and terribly vulnerable, but always politically astute. He is both a product of his own ancient culture and a prophet of our times. Etok is the only book which gives an account -- from the Alaska Native point-of-view -- of how Alaska Natives organized and fought to obtain the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.