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THE CRUELEST MILES

Gay Salisbury Laney Salisbury

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

The heroic dash of dog teams across the Alaskan wilderness to Nome inspired the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and immortalized Balto, the lead dog of the last team whose bronze statue still stands in New York City's Central Park. This is the greatest dog story, never fully told until now.
When a deadly diphtheria epidemic swept through Nome, Alaska, in 1925, the local doctor knew that without a fresh batch of antitoxin, his patients would die. The lifesaving serum was a thousand miles away, the port was icebound, and planes couldn't fly in blizzard conditions - only the dogs could make it. Gay Salisbury is the former associate publisher of Basic Books. She splits her time between Fairbanks, Alaska, and New York City. Laney Salisbury, a Columbia Journalism School graduate, has reported from Africa, the Middle East, and New York. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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Published 2023-06-03 by W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. - New York (USA)

Comments

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.

A riveting epic.

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

A classic tale of man against nature.