Scientist and writer Lawrence Millman (Giant Polypores and Stoned Reindeer) declares himself a sympathetic witness to a traditional lifestyle affected by outsiders. At the End of the World: A True Story of Murder in the Arctic uses the story of multiple murders in an isolated area of Canada to reflect on larger questions of cultural tolerance and humanity's relationship to the natural world.
Nine murders in 1941 shocked the residents of Belcher Island in Hudson Bay. Charlie Ouyerack and Peter Sala, both Inuit, were influenced by early Christian missionaries and became convinced that they were Jesus and God. When a 13-year-old challenged their claim, followers promptly beat her to death. Two weeks later, two men who again defied the cult leaders were murdered with rifle and harpoon. Finally, Sala's sister herded 12 naked people onto the ice with promises of redemption, where six of them died from exposure. The facts of the killings were known almost immediately, including sensational coverage in Life magazine. As the case went to trial one Canadian newspaper asked, "Will God be hung?"
Millman immersed himself in the community because "I couldn't write about the past without also writing about the world immediately around me." At the End of the World, Millman's 17th book, unfolds in short bursts. Introspection, combined with fine writing, propels readers into the struggle to reconcile past actions with present. --Cindy Pauldine, bookseller, the river's end bookstore