"The Whales, They Give Themselves is an intimate life history of Harry Brower, Sr. (1924-1992), an Inupiaq whaling captain, artisan, and community leader from Barrow, Alaska. Brower's vast knowledge of the natural world made him an essential contributor to the Native and scientific communities of the North. His desire to share his insights with future generations resulted in a series of conversations with friend and oral historian Karen Brewster, who weaves Harry's stories with cultural and historical background into this collaborative oral biography." "Brower was deeply committed to Native culture, and his life history is an expression of the Inupiaq way of life. He acted as a mediator between Inupiaq whalers and non-Native scientists and helped protect Inupiaq subsistance whaling by sharing his vast knowledge of bowhead whale behavior with researchers. He was a central architect of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation boundaries, and served for over twenty years as a consultant to scientists at the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory."--BOOK JACKET.