• Title: Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Artic
• Author: Jennifer Niven
• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (November 3, 2004)
• ISBN: 078688746X

Ada Blackjack was an Eskimo who joined the ill-fated attempt to colonize Wrangell Island.

This book starts with a description of Ada and the Chautauqua tours, where famous people and musicians would tour the backwoods United States to deliver news, science and music to people that might otherwise not have access. The book then describes how five people were sent to Wrangell Island, just off the coast of northern Siberia, by an infamous explorer, Vilhjalmur Stefansson, who was the leader of the failed Karluk expedition.

There are moving moments in the book, and it continues after Ada is rescued from the island until her death at the age of 85.

This is another good book about leading at the edge.

Here’s a link to the author’s web site.