Jonathan Waterman's 2,200-mile journey across the roof of North America, during 1997-1999, took him through Inuit communities from Alaska to Nunavut He offers first-hand observations of their life, language, and beliefs, their reactions to modernization, their treatment by whites, and the unemployment, suicide, spousal abuse, and addiction that is prevalent among them Waterman looks into a past of environmental destruction, government cover-ups, and explorers as the Inuit stand on the brink of a more hopeful, independent future