Dark Companion is the only biography written with Matthew Henson, the legendary Arctic explorer who reached the North Pole with Peary in 1909. The author's son has republished it as a tribute to Henson - of whom his father said was "A great man" and his mother added - "...and a Great Spirit".
The details as they were dictated to the author...so riveting. We checked out this book by ILL and I was thrilled to have it. I want to read it again...in companion to the autobiography "Matthew Henson a Negro explorer".
I read this book aloud to my husband, and we both loved it. Some terminology was dated, since the book was written in 1947, but we felt it gave a true representation of Matt Henson’s very important involvement in Robert Peary’s discovery of the North Pole as well as all the difficult years preceding and following it. One bit of trivia which was interesting: the U.S. traded the northernmost tip of Greenland to Denmark for the Virgin Islands! Unfortunately Henson’s significant role was overshadowed by racism, and the recognition he received for his great accomplishment was too little and way too late.