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

Looking for books about Alaska in anticipation of our first trip there, I stumbled onto this chronicle of the 1925 serum run - the delivery of live-saving diphtheria vaccine some 674 miles by dogsled to icebound Nome. Today's Iditarod, though it runs a somewhat different route, continues as a salute to Alaska's pioneers who connected isolated communities and keeps alive the memory of the most heroic dogsled race in history, the 1925 diphtheria serum run to Nome. This is not dull research or pedantic writing. The story captivates the reader early, pulling one along as though he or she were riding with the serum on the 5-and-a-half-day dash - a journey that then usually took some 25 days! You'll learn a great deal about Alaska - its geography, its weather, and its people (many of the mushers were Native Alaskans). You'll marvel at Native Alaskan culture and the methods they have used for hundreds of years to survive winters nearly eight months long in some areas. You'll understand just how terrible diphtheria could be in pre-DPT days. You'll agonize with those who finally opted to use traditional dogsled instead of the more "modern" airplane to deliver the serum. You'll discover how strong and how smart sled dogs are, as well as the requisite characteristics of a lead dog, and you'll learn how much the driver ("musher") relies on the natural abilties of the dogs - sometimes even to save his life. Even though you know how the story ends, you'll find yourself cheering on Balto and Togo, as well as the other dog teams and their mushers, as they race against death - in Nome and on the dangerous trail there. Gay and Laney Salisbury create word pictures and a feeling of reader participation in the story very much like Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air did. Both my wife and I very much enjoy good travel/adventure writing, and we devoured The Cruellest Miles. This is just a terrific book!

Gay and Laney Salisbury have done a wonderful job of researching and writing a riveting saga of one of the most incredible journeys in history. I knew one of the primary mushers...Leonhard Seppala, and the story they have told is the story I heard direct from Seppala. In the early 1960s Seppala lived in the Ballard district in Seattle. I got to know the man several years before his death and would stop to visit him after school and listen to his tales over cookies and milk. At the time there was no way a 10 year old could appreciate the incredible conditions Seppala faced in this epic race to save Nome. The Salisbury's have filled in those details. They have set the scene and helped me appreciate just what it was like in Nome in 1925 setting out by dog sled in 50 below temperatures to travel so many miles. I received the book for Christmas and it was the most delightful book I have ever read. What's more it was wonderful to see that Leonhard's lead dog Togo got the recognition he so deserved. I remember how saddened Leonhard was even late in life that Balto got the glory and Togo got virtually no credit. The stories he told me about Togo showed he was an exceptional dog and Leonhard loved him to the end. Thank you for writing such a well researched account of this event and presenting it in such a fascinating fashion. Robert Lane Ashland, OR

For once the blurb on the back cover is accurate, ",,,the Salisbury's writing is as straightforward and honest as the men they are describing. This is a moving story, superbly researched and deftly told."In the small town of Nome, in the furthest northwest corner of the coast of Alaska, a diptheria epidemic occurs in the winter of 1925. The town doctor knows he needs serum to save lives but he has only a very small supply. There are no roads or railways to Nome. The port is unreachable because of ice and the airplanes of the time could not take off because of the extreme cold. The only solution is to run the serum in by dogsled, across Alaska in temperatures of around minus 60 degrees. This is a saga of the heroism of both men and dogs. Some of the dogs died as a result of giving more than they had to the race across the ice. Men had their hands frozen to the sled. But they made it and saved many lives. Both men and dogs displayed valour and tenacity in conditions beyond anything we can imagine.In telling this deeply moving story the writers take the opportunity to show us the basic elements of life in the outposts of Alaska - the effects of the cold, the wind, the winter darkness, the isolation. The readers don't learn this, they FEEL it. The pace of the story builds from the discovery of gold at Nome in 1898 to the dramatic, heroic dash with the serum in 1925.I recommend this book to anyone who likes reading about the outdoors and the courage of men and dogs in overcoming impossible odds.

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!

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.