The book brought Ada Blackjack’s name to readers who had never heard it.

The Anchorage Museum has honored her.

The National Park Service has published accounts of her story.

She is recognized now, belatedly, as one of the most remarkable survival stories in the history of Arctic exploration.

But the financial exploitation, the denial of credit, the taking of her diaries without consent — these were not accidents or individual oversights.

They were the predictable result of the power dynamics that had structured the expedition from the beginning: an Iñupiat woman, hired for her labor and her skills, whose contributions were absorbed into the accounts of the men who organized and supervised and ultimately profited from the venture.

What Wrangel Island Proved — And What Science Confirmed