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Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People

Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People
By William L. Iggiagruk Hensley

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Nunavut tigummiun!
Hold on to the land!
 
It was just fifty years ago that the territory of Alaska officially became the state of Alaska. But no matter who has staked their claim to the land, it has always had a way of enveloping souls in its vast, icy embrace.
 
For William L. Iggiagruk Hensley, Alaska has been his home, his identity, and his cause. Born on the shores of Kotzebue Sound, twenty-nine miles north of the Arctic Circle, he was raised to live the traditional, seminomadic life that his Iñupiaq ancestors had lived for thousands of years. It was a life of cold and of constant effort, but Hensley’s people also reaped the bounty that nature provided.
 
In Fifty Miles from Tomorrow, Hensley offers us the rare chance to immerse ourselves in a firsthand account of growing up Native Alaskan. There have been books written about Alaska, but they’ve been written by Outsiders, settlers. Hensley’s memoir of life on the tundra offers an entirely new perspective, and his stories are captivating, as is his account of his devotion to the Alaska Native land claims movement.
 
As a young man, Hensley was sent by missionaries to the Lower Forty-eight so he could pursue an education. While studying there, he discovered that the land Native Alaskans had occupied and, to all intents and purposes, owned for millennia was being snatched away from them. Hensley decided to fight back.
 
In 1971, after years of Hensley’s tireless lobbying, the United States government set aside 44 million acres and nearly $1 billion for use by Alaska’s native peoples. Unlike their relatives to the south, the Alaskan peoples would be able to take charge of their economic and political destiny.
 
The landmark decision did not come overnight and was certainly not the making of any one person. But it was Hensley who gave voice to the cause and made it real. Fifty Miles from Tomorrow is not only the memoir of one man; it is also a fascinating testament to the resilience of the Alaskan ilitqusiat, the Alaskan spirit.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #64952 in Books
  • Published on: 2008-12-23
  • Released on: 2008-12-23
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 272 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Although this fascinating memoir is set hundreds of miles from where most Americans have ever dared to travel, Hensley brings to life this little-known part of America through myriad tales of toil, triumph and the Inupiat Ilitqusiat—the Inupiat spirit. Growing up in what he calls the twilight of the Stone Age, Hensley grew up without what many would consider basic necessities; in his homeland on the Kotzebue Sound in rural Alaska, survival was the primary concern. But even through the illness and hardships that plagued his and other families, the life lessons learned as a child stayed with him for decades. As such, despite attending high school and college in the Lower 48, he found himself always drawn back to his homeland, like a salmon heading for the waters where he was spawned. Hensley became a crusader for the Inupiat people, starting as a fresh-out-of-college activist, then his tenure as a state representative, and later his work in the corporate sector. Through his entire adult life, Hensley's mission has been simple: to ensure the Inupiat are allowed to keep their rights and their land. There are rich details of hunting adventures and typical childhood struggles, but the deep-rooted values and strength of the Inupiat people are what make this work truly sing. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School—Hensley grew up in a remote Alaskan village in the early 1940s and eventually became a politician and lobbyist for Native affairs. He tells of living in a sod house with no electricity, running water, bed of his own, or medical or dental care, but of being lovingly cared for by his adoptive parents—and the whole village. His early education, conveyed through oral tradition and imbued with a deep reverence for nature, taught him the hunting and fishing skills needed for survival. In contrast, his education at the Bureau of Indian Affairs school endeavored to Americanize the students and to denigrate their heritage. Hensley later attended a Baptist boarding school in Tennessee where he was encouraged to assimilate into the Southern teen lifestyle of the time, further removing him from his beloved Inupiat heritage. With humor and pathos, the author describes his youthful experiences straddling two cultures. At George Washington University, he became interested in civil rights and advocated for Native causes. The frustrations of his people as they tried to maneuver the domestic, political, and corporate complexities of modern life in the then newly formed state are passionately revealed as Hensley details his membership in the National Congress of American Indians and the Alaskan House of Representatives. Students interested in civil rights and Alaskan history and culture will appreciate this work, as will readers of Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Little, Brown, 2007).—Jackie Gropman, formerly at Fairfax County Public Library System, Fairfax, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“With his memoir of Alaska, the Iñupiat elder William L. Iggiagruk Hensley offers a coming-of-age story for a state and a people, both still young and in the making. And while there are familiar notes in the Dickensian telling of this tale, Hensley manages to make fresh an old narrative of people who arise just as their culture is being erased . . . His book is also bright and detailed, moving along at a clip most sled dogs would have trouble keeping up with. . . . On a personal level, the book is riveting autobiography. Anyone who thinks times are hard now need only consider a winter spent on an ice floor under a sod roof, and the prospect of a life-or-death journey to the outhouse. . . . But the rush to modern life took a big psychic toll. Alcohol, suicide, domestic violence—the familiar litany of native social ills—prompted a long journey of the soul for Hensley. As with every other episode of his life, it is told here with a Far Northern twist and an intimacy with the land and the heart.” —Timothy Egan, The New York Times Book Review
 
“Illuminating . . . ‘Fifty Miles from Tomorrow’ is an entertaining and affecting portrait of a man and his extraordinary milieu.” —The Washington Post
 
“Mr. Hensley’s account of what it’s like to grow up in the far north, 50 miles from the International Date Line, is rarely less than gripping.” Dwight Garner, The New York Times
 
“On one level, this strongly written and evocative book is the story of a man, his people—the Iñupiat, or ‘the real people’—and their world and culture. On another, it’s the story of the politics of land use and energy development.” —The Washington Times
 
“Lean but vivid prose. . . . Ultimately this book must be seen as part of that movement—as a chance for an Alaskan Inuit to leave a record of his own experience rather than to be defined by books written by outsiders. This book is his chance to celebrate and strengthen the spirit of his own people.” —The Oregonian
 
“A compelling tale of doing what had to be done and recognizing the spiritual depth and profound love it takes to become a real person in Alaska, or anywhere else.” —Bookforum
 
“An enlightening, affirmative look at Inuit culture and history by a devoted champion.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
“Although this fascinating memoir is set hundreds of miles from where most Americans have ever dared to travel, Hensley brings to life this ‘little-known part of America’ through myriad tales of toil, triumph and the Inupiat Ilitqusiat—the Inupiat spirit. . . . Through his entire adult life, Hensley’s mission has been simple: to ensure the Inupiat are allowed to keep their rights and their land. There are rich details of hunting adventures and typical childhood struggles, but the deep-rooted values and strength of the Inupiat people are what make this work truly sing.” —Publishers Weekly, Pick of the week

Customer Reviews

compelling, riveting window on the virtually unknown world of Alaska and its indigenous people5
Willie Hensley's life story is one of extraordinary range and comprehension, both literally and figuratively.
From a childhood lived above the arctic circle, in the "twilight of the stone age" among his Inupiat extended family, through an abrupt transplantation for schooling in eastern Tennessee and then Washington DC, the
arc of his life is nearly without parallel in modern America. With powerful imagery and elegant, flowing prose, Willie conveys the essence of life as an Alaska Native in the 20th century as no one has done before. He paints vivid
pictures of the magnificent land of northwestern Alaska, the incomparable wisdom, dignity, grace and
humor of his Inupiat (Inuit) culture---and then the equally harsh challenges facing his people since Alaska
became America: forced assimilation by missionaries and teachers who were both "church and state" in one;and the challenge of sustaining life and culture in harmony with the land and sea and natural resources while also surviving in a
"modern" world driven by a cash economy. Willie's life's work -- of seeing that Alaska's Native
people retain ownership of ancestral lands while they fight to hold onto a fraying sense of cultural identity
and still prosper --is really a tale of universal human challenges. That
is what makes this such an important book, for the lessons we can all learn about adaptability and continuity
from these First People in our nation of immigrants. Willie's is the only such clear and powerful Native voice to have come from Alaska and
find such a wide and receptive audience. For all of our sakes, may there be countless more.

What a Story4
What luck to have a translator who literally and figuratively belongs to two worlds. Hensley is the half-white, half-Inupiat activist whose efforts helped secure portions of Alaska for her native peoples. His account of traditional life is fascinating.

Hensley never knew his father, and was rescued from his natural mother's abusive home by her extended family that taught him traditional ways: hunting, fishing, and camping - not in an LLBean tent, but in a sod hut dug into the land, where he honed his early hunting skills by targeting mice with a slingshot.

These portions of the book - how people live in arctic regions, the foods they eat, the animals they hunt, the clothes they wear - were for me the most interesting parts. For Hensley, the purpose of the book seems to create a historical record not only of his people, but of the political battles that took place to ensure that their lands weren't given over to the new state of Alaska without some set-asides and compensation. The author devoted decades of his life to community organizing, politicking, and flying to Washington to advocate for his people. This part of the book does slog a bit; a Bill Clinton-like list of people met along the way: politically sensible, but boring if you're not one of the named players.

A portion of the book is also devoted to his surprising foray to the mainland for his high school education, where he dates Southern belles, becomes a football star, learns to ride a horse (proudly sharing a youthful, barechested photo to prove it), and survives 'culture clash' quite nicely.

Hensley seems most authentic and likeable when he talks about his vulnerable youth, his love of extended family, and his relation to the land. Like many autobiographies, readers sense that some personal shortcomings have been glossed over. Some of the wheeling-dealing that Hensley engages in late in his career - a short mention about investing in a mining company is never explained, for instance, and some political falling-outs - hint at a person who may be a bit more complicated than he appears at first. The US government, missionaries, and European-Americans all have a foul record in respect to their behavior to native peoples. But when Hensley discusses portions of his childhood - the sexual abuse of his sister, his painful abcessed teeth as a child, the relatives dying of food poisoning and alcohol abuse, it does feel like some of his judgments about the motivations of non-native entities - particularly early in the book - lack some nuance: the same people who barge onto (and "buy") native lands, insist on English in schools, and make a muck of everything also bring medical clinics, scholarships, and some helpful technology. By the end of the book Hensely seems to have forged some kind of reconciliation with himself and others. The young firebrand who rescued his people from the worst of the intrusions seems to have evolved into a person who can rightly rest on his laurels and take credit for being one of the key players in Alaska's recent history. Interesting.

An incredible story5

Here is a really excellent book about the recent history of Alaska and unique life. Its about the right person in the right place at the right time with the right idea having the courage to take the right actions.

Willie shares personal details of a very different and impactful life from the relatively humdrum of the rest of us. On a personal level it's a very private sharing of a full and challenging life from a sod hut on the shores of the Bering Strait to the proverbial halls of power in Washington DC. On a political level it tells some of the details of how Alaska came to have a very different, respectful, and sharing relationship between native people and culture and that of the recently-arrived western civilization. On an even broader level it gives us a glimpse of the processes and realities of bringing together widely differing needs and approaches to knowing, loving, sharing, and exploiting the land.

Willies story gives non-natives and even natives, an opportunity to understand how others may look at Alaska.

Willie shares with us a deep well of personal courage, commitment to family and culture, and dedication to see things through to the end envisioned, and in the process reminds us all that if you want to get it done, you just have to go out and do it.