What do you think?
Rate this book
With the Lapps in the High Mountains: A Woman among the Sami, 1907–1908
With the Lapps in the High Mountains is an entrancing true account, a classic of travel literature, and a work that deserves wider recognition as an early contribution to ethnographic writing. Published in 1913 and available here in its first English translation, it is the narrative of Emilie Demant Hatt's nine-month stay in the tent of a Sami family in northern Sweden in 1907-8 and her participation in a dramatic reindeer migration over snow-packed mountains to Norway with another Sami community in 1908. A single woman in her thirties, Demant Hatt immersed herself in the Sami language and culture. She writes vividly of daily life, women's work, children's play, and the care of reindeer herds in Lapland a century ago.
While still an art student in Copenhagen in 1904, Demant Hatt had taken a vacation trip to northern Sweden, where she chanced to meet Sami wolf hunter Johan Turi. His dream of writing a book about his people sparked her interest in the culture, and she began to study the Sami language at the University of Copenhagen. Though not formally trained as an ethnographer, she had an eye for detail. The journals, photographs, sketches, and paintings she made during her travels with the Sami enriched her eventual book, and in With the Lapps in the High Mountains she memorably portrays people, dogs, reindeer, and the beauty of the landscape above the Arctic Circle. This English-language edition also includes photographs by Demant Hatt, an introduction by translator Barbara Sjoholm, and a foreword by Hugh Beach, author of A Year in Lapland: Guest of the Reindeer Herders.
While still an art student in Copenhagen in 1904, Demant Hatt had taken a vacation trip to northern Sweden, where she chanced to meet Sami wolf hunter Johan Turi. His dream of writing a book about his people sparked her interest in the culture, and she began to study the Sami language at the University of Copenhagen. Though not formally trained as an ethnographer, she had an eye for detail. The journals, photographs, sketches, and paintings she made during her travels with the Sami enriched her eventual book, and in With the Lapps in the High Mountains she memorably portrays people, dogs, reindeer, and the beauty of the landscape above the Arctic Circle. This English-language edition also includes photographs by Demant Hatt, an introduction by translator Barbara Sjoholm, and a foreword by Hugh Beach, author of A Year in Lapland: Guest of the Reindeer Herders.
163 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1913
25 people are currently reading
285 people want to read
About the author
Emilie Demant Hatt
6 books23 followersDanish artist and self-trained ethnographer who lived among the Sami of Swedish Lapland in the first two decades of the twentieth century.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 28, 2013
I was predisposed to enjoy this book, being a huge fan of travel writing (of all kinds, including the translator Barbara Sjoholm's) and having confirmed my Sami heritage last year. Although I had been on a Sami history reading jag for the past 18 months, I had never read ANYTHING like this, and had no expectation of falling in love with the voice, which is not only that of a sensitive ethnographer, an intrepid traveler, a reveler in nature, and a sharp-eyed artist, but of a soft-hearted and wry comedian. Whether or not you have a specific interest in the indigenous people of Scandinavia (or reindeer herding), read this book for Demant-Hatt's voice, nimbly translated from the Danish. You'll find yourself thinking about the reflections of stars in your coffee, and what it's like to sleep with a puppy nose to nose in an Arctic winter. You may look at your life in a new way, having experiencing vicariously a sense of home that moves with you, the ground your table and bed.
December 26, 2021
So, it's a firsthand account of a danish woman's experience living among the Sami for a couple of years, this is presented mostly in "seasonal summary" form wherein Hatt will get into details of certain aspects of life as it progresses. I greatly enjoyed this as it's anthropological in content but not in style. It's a much easier read than something like an anthropology textbook about the Sami, and the writing style is gripping, chocked full of beautiful descriptions of the landscape and interspersed with entertaining remarks from Hatt herself and the people she lives with.
I do recommend reading By the Fire: Sami Folktales and Legends alongside this book, as it gives you more ground for things (like the Dog-Turk) that are mentioned in the later parts of the With the Lapps in the High Mountains.
I do recommend reading By the Fire: Sami Folktales and Legends alongside this book, as it gives you more ground for things (like the Dog-Turk) that are mentioned in the later parts of the With the Lapps in the High Mountains.
January 2, 2016
I picked up this book on a whim, after deciding to visit Lapland this Winter, and WOW did I get lucky with this find. Absolutely fantastic. The book follows a self-made ethnographer from Denmark who spends a year with the Sami, migrating through incredibly harsh conditions in Lapland (northern norway, sweden, and finland). The Sami's life is harder than almost anything I could imagine, and reading this account of it makes me appreciate everything I have. Learning about the racism and unfair treatment the Sami's received from the "civilized" Scandinavian cultures has inspired me to try to be more tolerant and accepting of others in my own life. If you have any interest in Scandinavia, history, native people of the world, or anthropology in any sense, then I would highly, highly recommend this book to you.
August 26, 2025
An under-appreciated gem of a book.
This is a fantastic ethnography/travel memoir from a woman who was truly before her time. The translation feels natural and carefully thought-through. I love a book which blurs the line between ethnography and travel writing, written with sincere appreciation for the culture.
This book deserves to be up there and as well-known as Wilfred Thesiger's Arabian Sands. (Tangentially, many interesting similarities exist between these two nomadic cultures.) If you appreciate this book, go read that. I need to go edit my review of that book to point readers to this one.
I came to this book after reading By the Fire: Sami Folktales and Legends, a collection she produced and illustrated with her impressive linocut work. It's a lighter read, and an interesting combination of familiar stories, like Cinderella, retold through the lens of Sami culture, new (to me) pourquoi stories, and historical legends.
A friend looked at the cover and said "1907-1908--huh--that's not very long, is it?" True, the time period covered here is relatively short. But her reflections are colored by a deep knowledge and love for Sami people and culture, developed over years of immersion.
Before attempting this journey, she was an art student who learned the Sami language at the University of Copenhagen after a chance meeting with Johan Turi on a train ride--he said he wanted to write a book about his people, and she said she wanted to be a nomad. They both got what they wanted.
In fact before she wrote her own book, she edited and translated Johan Turi's Account of the Sami. Turi became the first Sami author to publish a non-sacred text in the Sami language.
After reading both of these, I'm very interested in reading about and seeing her art, but it doesn't look like her work has been collected into a book. I also want to read her autobiography Spring Torrents, which was discovered in 2002, and annoyingly, not translated into English.
Someday, I hope.
This is a fantastic ethnography/travel memoir from a woman who was truly before her time. The translation feels natural and carefully thought-through. I love a book which blurs the line between ethnography and travel writing, written with sincere appreciation for the culture.
This book deserves to be up there and as well-known as Wilfred Thesiger's Arabian Sands. (Tangentially, many interesting similarities exist between these two nomadic cultures.) If you appreciate this book, go read that. I need to go edit my review of that book to point readers to this one.
I came to this book after reading By the Fire: Sami Folktales and Legends, a collection she produced and illustrated with her impressive linocut work. It's a lighter read, and an interesting combination of familiar stories, like Cinderella, retold through the lens of Sami culture, new (to me) pourquoi stories, and historical legends.
A friend looked at the cover and said "1907-1908--huh--that's not very long, is it?" True, the time period covered here is relatively short. But her reflections are colored by a deep knowledge and love for Sami people and culture, developed over years of immersion.
Before attempting this journey, she was an art student who learned the Sami language at the University of Copenhagen after a chance meeting with Johan Turi on a train ride--he said he wanted to write a book about his people, and she said she wanted to be a nomad. They both got what they wanted.
In fact before she wrote her own book, she edited and translated Johan Turi's Account of the Sami. Turi became the first Sami author to publish a non-sacred text in the Sami language.
After reading both of these, I'm very interested in reading about and seeing her art, but it doesn't look like her work has been collected into a book. I also want to read her autobiography Spring Torrents, which was discovered in 2002, and annoyingly, not translated into English.
Someday, I hope.
August 11, 2018
Scenically and psychologically vivid account of the travels of a foreign lady of conscience with a Sami family through their annual migration at the turn of the last century. Like the best lady explorers of that era, Hatt has a humility and sense of humor that makes it easy to put yourself in her place.
May 16, 2017
Surprisingly delightful.
November 7, 2017
Delightful.
February 21, 2019
This book was great. So well and economically written. Not a page wasted and painted a such a vivid picture of the Sami's incredible lives.
December 21, 2019
Such a fascinating book!
August 28, 2014
This book was absolutely wonderful. Written so long ago and totally based on fact. I loved the authors writing style and her totally non judgemental description of the Sami people. Many times I felt I was there with her and her friends. I was so sorry when this book finished - although it did take me a long time to read! Only my own time constraints, it would be a great book to read over a few days. It felt like I had lost an old friend when I came to the end! I bought the book as a last minute unplanned splurge when at the Nordiska Museet in Stockholm. So glad I did, one day I will return to the museum to see some of her art wrk painted after this book was written.
I must add the book was beautifully translated as well, and although the forward is long it rally does piece the story together.
I must add the book was beautifully translated as well, and although the forward is long it rally does piece the story together.
April 5, 2014
This is a completely fascinating glimpse into a time and place, people and their lives that are so foreign to our modern-day world. Since the author wrote this book more than 100 years ago, I was worried that the language would be stilted and hard to comprehend, but since it was only translated last year, the language used in the book comes across as fresh and accessible. The author was an amazingly perceptive person, and the landscapes, Sami people and their reindeer herds really spring from the page. You can smell the scents, hear the wind roaring at night and see the stars. This is one of the most illuminating books I've read. And it pulls aside the curtain from families that lived a nomadic lifestyle in one of the most uncompromising environments on the planet.
April 18, 2015
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was translated from the Danish by a local author in my area. The original author, Emilie Demant Hatt, spent the better part of a year and a half with the Sami people in northern Sweden and accompanied them on a winter migration. Demant Hatt had such respect for the Samis and loved this adventure but the living conditions were very harsh and I don't think many modern people could survive the severity of the weather, living in tents in extremely cold weather, not having running water, electricity, or electronic gear! However, this happened in the early 1900s. It was a fascinating example of a nomadic people who depend on reindeer for their food/clothes and general life.
November 3, 2015
life with the Sami
It was very much like a journal it was behind the scenes of everyday life of the Sami . I experienced some of these things in the 1970's and found the History and way of living hadn't changed much in 70 years. The book is more of a documentary so a slower read.
It was very much like a journal it was behind the scenes of everyday life of the Sami . I experienced some of these things in the 1970's and found the History and way of living hadn't changed much in 70 years. The book is more of a documentary so a slower read.
December 28, 2018
Great history & travelogue
Fascinating story of a woman’s trek with the Lapps in the early 1900s. Beautifully written descriptions of the culture & beauty of the natural surroundings.
Fascinating story of a woman’s trek with the Lapps in the early 1900s. Beautifully written descriptions of the culture & beauty of the natural surroundings.
May 4, 2020
Winter 2020. “The Sami People of Northern Scandinavia” at EdCC Creative Retirement Institute
September 18, 2022
A gift from my son. Books are the best gifts ever. This was really fascinating. Highly recommend.
August 20, 2013
Fascinating
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews