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Summary: A must read!!
Review: The graphic, vivid descriptions of such freezing temperatures made me feel a chill in the 100* California heat. I felt as if the authors themselves had experienced and survived the very perils of the Alaskan wilderness they describe. They described the scenes, strength, fellowship and symbiosis between dogs and humans, interdependancy that every faction of the Alskan wilderness shared as if they had lived it themselves.
I am a teacher and have read Balto to my children many a time...this will give me a much greater insight and lesson plans around the literature.
If you like dogs-even just a little bit-you'll love this book AND love your dog more. If you like adventure, you'll like this book. If you like history, you'll like this book. If you're interested in the lesser explored slices of 'Americana' you'll like this book.
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Summary: True Heroes in a Legendary Race Against Time and Nature
Review: The Salisbury cousins have written a spellbinding book about the legendary Serum Run, the 625 mile trek made by brave Alaskan dogsledders to stop the Nome diptheria outbreak in the dead of winter, 1925. The book is altogether readable and informative not only about the desperate race against the disease, but also about dogsledding, Alaskan topography and climate, the dauntless sled dogs themselves, and the determined men who accepted the challenge to risk their own lives to save a town of dying children.
The authors write in a style that complements the story. Each leg of the race to get the diptheria anti-toxin to Nome in time to save the town is interspersed with fascinating facts and asides which leave the reader hungry for more, but not impatient with the interuptions. The story has great flavor because of the fullness of its telling. As each team of dauntless dogs is hitched to the sled, the anti-toxin's epic journey is punctuated with the unfolding crisis back in Nome. The local doctor is overwhelmed with sick children. The governor is beleaguered by demands that he order a pilot to fly the most precious, nearest doses of the serum to Nome in a World War I airplane with an open cockpit in the dead of the North Alaskan winter. The entire nation is transfixed by its radios, chewing its fingernails in hopes that the men and dogs can brave the blizzards, cross an untrustworthy seasonal ice pack, and deliver the serum to the exhausted doctor and nurses as the number of victims rises with each passing hour.
But for the authors' impressive research, this event could become a myth of American history. The authors quote primary and close secondary sources. Infrequent footnotes are interesting rather than distracting. Actual photographs of Nome and of dogsled team leaders Togo and Balto complement the writing. One particular photograph of a dogsled team crossing the frozen expanse of treacherous Norton Sound caused me to catch my breath with the sheer audacity of the men who made this run.
Prior to reading this book, my own knowledge about the Serum Run came from the annual news reports of the annual Iditarod race, most of which I ignored, and my son's videotape of Spielberg's animated feature, "Balto." Although I suspected that the children's movie had taken generous liberties with the facts, I was probably compelled to buy the book because of it. I am not disappointed.
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Summary: Traditionalist trump technology again
Review: The Salisburys have combined an analytical review of the introduction of technology into a remote and nearly inhospitable region with a tale of exceptional courage and committment by a small group of ordinary men. In 1925 a diptheria epidemic threatened the remote town of Nome, Alaska. Fortunately most of us have no idea of the terrible suffering and deaths from strangulation that await those, mostly children and natives, who contract such a disease. However, in 1925, diptheria was still known and epidemics were well known, the most recent one having been the post WWI Spanish Influenza, which had very high mortality rates in certain populations. In 1925 Alaska, still a territory largely administered by Washington bureaucrats very unfamiliar with local issues, the argument had two vociferous sides. The traditionalists favored the use of the well-tested dog sled to transport fragile serum to Nome. Others led by businessmen and newspaperman, some with a commerical interest, demanded that an airplane serum drop be undertaken. In some ways this time was much like our own, with an unbelievable reliance on technology that has not really been proven under adverse conditions. Ultimately the governor weighed the arguments and went with the well-proven dog sled, which was successful in delivering the serum, albeit after many deaths had occurred. The flying proponents lacked no courage or perseverence, but ulitmately were unsuccessful in a test flight. Only 22 years after the Wright flyer lifted off at Kitty Hawk, airplane technology was not ready for the demands of this transport. The military had only very recently ever attempted any flying this far north, and it was only done under very controlled conditions and certainly not in the January blizzard that then prevailed. The first part of the book is perhaps the most interesting part, where the Salisburys take us through a history of the development of Alaska and give us a sense of the remoteness and lack of access. Ports were frozen all winter. Roads, railroads, and telephone lines did not extend into the interior. Only the frontier spirit, willingness to come to another's aid, and survival skills acquired through generations of hard lessons allowed anyone to live in the territory.
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Summary: A gripping yarn
Review: This book is not only a gripping tale of heroic men and dogs working against long odds and unimaginable hardships to save Nome from an epidemic, it is a fascinating account of dogsledding, gold rushes, Alaskan history, and harsh weather. Some of the most interesting passages describe the weird acoustical effects and other strange and unfamiliar phenomena caused by extreme cold. Other reviewers have criticized these digressions for interrupting the narrative, but I found that they added depth and context. Hey, nobody seems to quibble about "Moby Dick" alternating chapters between story and natural history.
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Summary: Important book
Review: This book was fascinating on so many levels. You can learn from a historically accurate point of view, about the history and survival skills of the Alaskan people. You can learn all about siberian huskies and the relationship and special bonding they shared with their owners, and maybe most importantly, we can learn about the importance of the modern day vaccination and the prevention of disease. We are spared today from so many epidemics that plagued people not so very long ago. We should be grateful, I know that I am. I was taking my son for his chicken pox vaccine and mentioned this book to my doctor. He was so interested he ordered the book on Amazon while we were there. I think he wants to share it with his patients and emphasize how important vaccines are, and how lucky we really are today.
A great read, fascinating and packed with all kinds of interest and information, really takes you there.
You have to take the whole thing in ,both the epidemic, and the history of the alaskan people, enjoy both sets of information at once, one side of the story told alone would not have been as educational.
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Summary: an outstanding read.
Review: Unfortunately, few people outside of Alaska are familair with the 1925 serum run, a remarkable bit of history. This book seeks to remedy that situation and does an outstanding job. It reads more like a novel than the excellently researched work of history that it is. The people involved, the cold, the historical setting, all come vividly to life. Highly recomended.
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Summary: Writing detracts from great story
Review: What a disappointment! I was so anxious to read this book because the subtitle said it was "The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic." But I'm afraid the subtitle was like a promise not kept. That is, while this book did include this information, it just seemed to be slipped in here and there with a whole bunch of other stuff. The writing went all over the place. I only finished the book because I kept thinking I'd get to the part that really does tell the heroic story of dogs and men in a race against an epdemic."
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Summary: worthy of sebastian junger's high praise
Review: When Gay and Laney Salisbury (first cousins) were little, they became entranced with the larger-than-life bronze statue of Balto the sled dog in Central Park, near the Children's Zoo - and apparently they're not the only fans, for the caretaker of the Central Park Conservancy estimates that Balto's statue has lost a quarter inch of thickness at the hands of admirers. Armed with new primary and secondary documents, the authors offer an updated version of Balto and his brethren who, along with 20 or so mushers, carried critical vaccines from Nenana, just south-west of Fairbanks, to Nome, where diphtheria had broken out. The book offers up many tales of heroism that took place over the 5 days from Nenana to Nome, and the uncanny, mind-meld relationship between mushers like Leonhard Seppala and their lead dogs is inspiring and incredible. The Salisburys offer a well-documented and sparely-told tale, unencumbered with excessive sentimentality or nostalgia for the time of the Alaskan sled dogs. The story takes a while to get off the ground, as the Salisburys lay out the gold rush background of Nome, but it rapidly picks up once Dr. Curtis Welch acknowledges the reality of the disease he's fighting. Great story of dogs and men - and the cold challenge of Alaska. highly recommended.
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Summary: A Fascinating Adventure
Review: Wow! What a breathtaking read. The Salisburys have beautifully captured an exciting bit of American history. Except for one slim book years ago, nothing has been written -until now- about the race against time and weather to deliver medicine for a diphtheria epidemic to Nome, Alaska in 1925. The writers take the reader on a wonderful adventure that later fostered the annual Iditerod race. They have expertly woven together the history of a nation, its people and the dogs that became such an integral part of Alaska's very existence. "The Cruelest Miles" captures the intimacy between man and animal in the same way "Seabiscuit" so successfully did. In early 1999, I read the New York Times' obituary of the last surviving musher of that miraculous dog sled team. I noted it with interest. Gay Salisbury and Laney Salisbury went more than one step further. They created a fascinating, well written book. From the very first page, I could not put it down!
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