RE: Hensley, William L. I??ia?ruk (Iñupiaq). Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People. New York: Sarah Crichton Books, 2009.
Hensley was a president of NANA, the Northwest Alaska Native Association (this link says he was a founder:
http://www.alaskool.org/projects/biography/WHensley-bio.htm). The book is a memoir of his childhood growing up with his aunt and uncle in Alaska (he is half Inupiaq/half Eastern European, but never knew his Euro father), getting an education in the lower 48 and becoming an activist and politician. I believe it is legit (also well-written).