The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic

by Gay Salisbury, Laney Salisbury Narrated by Barrett Whitener

Overview

The year is 1925. It is sixty degrees below zero. The wind sweeps tons of snow over the deep-frozen Alaskan landscape. The nearest railhead is seven hundred miles away. Airplanes cannot fly. The way to Nome is blocked by a treacherous frozen sound, an icebound port, and mountains to the west. But there is a diphtheria epidemic in Nome. The children need serum from the outside world if they are to survive. Their only hope is a few chosen Eskimo drivers and their teams of dogs, who must make a relay race across the wilderness if the serum is to get to Nome in time. The heroism and stamina of the men and their dogs can only be called legendary. Now, their story can be told.

Editorial Reviews

USA Today

In the compelling The Cruelest Miles, the real story involved 20 mushers and hundreds of dogs. And the tale turns out to be far more inspiring and complicated than the animated 1995 children's movie. — Deidre Donahue

Forbes Magazine

Well-researched, well-told tale of the heroic dogsled rescue of diphtheria-hit Nome, Alaska in 1925--a will-they-make-it-in-time drama that gripped the nation. The diphtheria serum Nome's doctor had requested was not delivered, and as winter ice set in, the area was cut off from the rest of the world. As fate would have it, diphtheria soon broke out. Known as "the strangler," diphtheria is especially fatal to children. The lifesaving serum had to travel a harrowing 674 miles over forbidding terrain via dogsled. (10 May 2004)
—Steve Forbes

Kirkus Reviews

Two cousins debut with an eloquent account of the famous 1925 dash by dog-sled teams to bring diphtheria serum to Nome, Alaska. Freelance journalist Laney Salisbury and former publishing executive Gay Salisbury seamlessly blend Alaska’s early history and an anthropological survey of Eskimo traditions with a page-turning chronicle of the race to Nome. Once the center of a gold rush, by December 1924 it was a small town on the Bering Sea shut off from the rest of the territory, its only harbor icebound from November until spring, its only line of communication the trails the dog teams used. In December, Dr. Curtis Welch noted an increasing number of illnesses among the local native population as well as the town’s children, suspected diphtheria, and became increasingly alarmed. New supplies of serum had failed to arrive, and he had no laboratory facilities. As children died, and the number of infected rose in late January 1925, Nome’s mayor placed the town under quarantine and issued a nationwide plea for serum. It was located in Anchorage and taken by rail to Nenana, where the first dog team picked it up and began the race across frozen seas and up icy mountains to complete the 674-mile journey to Nome. Both the weather and the terrain proved hostile and capricious: ice floes suddenly broke apart, blizzards blew up, and temperatures dropped. The writers vividly describe the race against time and nature, which attracted national attention, and provide well-rounded portraits of the team leaders and their dogs, especially Balto, the leader of the team that reached Nome first. His statue stands in New York’s Central Park. A riveting epic that memorably honors the heroes, both human and canine,who pushed themselves to the limit to save others. Author tour

Newsday

"A remarkable adventure story....The Salisburys convey the brutal conditions of the trail convincingly enough to make you shiver in your beach chair."

Sebastian Junger

"This a moving story, superbly researched and deftly told."

Seattle Weekly - David Stress

"Stirring passages detailing the rigors of dogsledding, the bond between man and beast, and the importance of a good lead dog make for irresistible Jack London kind of stuff."

Velma Wallis

"Sequence by sequence the Salisburys have written not only about a race but also about our Alaskan history and the hardy people who first came, both Native and non-Native, to make our history so rich."

Minneapolis Star Tribune - Emily Carter

"Quite literally a cliff hanger."

Sara Wheeler

"A classic tale of man against nature."

Entertainment Weekly - Alice King

"A scrupulously researched, cleanly written account that makes for a rollicking good adventure."

Alice King - Entertainment Weekly

A scrupulously researched, cleanly written account that makes for a rollicking good adventure.

David Stress - Seattle Weekly

Stirring passages detailing the rigors of dogsledding, the bond between man and beast, and the importance of a good lead dog make for irresistible Jack London kind of stuff.

Emily Carter - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Quite literally a cliff hanger.

Sara Wheeler - New York Times Book Review

A classic tale of man against nature.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169642728
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	03/05/2003
Edition description:	Unabridged

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