The People of the Twilight

by Diamond Jenness

Anthropological study.

Genres: Anthropology, History

Paperback

Published January 1, 1959

About the author

1886-1969

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may be my new favorite book. This book was written in 1928 about a group of people whose way of life is now totally extinct. Jenness was an anthropologist who spent 2 years living amongst the Eskimos of the Coronation Gulf region in Arctic Canada. His commentary has a natural flow to it and there were no lagging points in the book. I read it strait through because it was just so enthralling to learn about these people who couldn't understand the concept of war ("You mean they kill people like we kill caribou?") and spend their lives in sync with the cycles of the seasons. There was no sickness and no complaining and the people took life for what it was from day to day. This is just a fascinating book that raised all kinds of issues for me regarding the meaning of life and utopia. I'd recommend it for anyone who is interested in survival stories and stories of cultures very different from our own.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good grief. White man's guilt writ large. Especially the preface, which is why I refused to proceed. The poor innocent 'children', yes, he called them children, tempted by the white man's guns and $$ for furs, decimated their own food supply, but it's all tbe white man's fault because the Eskimos are just children🤑