Kerri Anne's Reviews > The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic
The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic
by
by
![374456](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1610290999p2/374456.jpg)
Note to self: Don't read a book about a deadly and formidable epidemic during a pandemic.*
I would, however, definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in Alaskan history, including but not limited to the true story behind some of the most heroic sled-dogs in history and one of the best animated movies of all-time (Balto! The original, 1995 version). This story also includes heaps of interesting and essential Indigenous history (as any story about the history of Alaska should), and it handles that history with respect and reverence.
Well-written and well-researched, with a handful of sections that read a bit slower and felt a bit more difficult to navigate, overall this book is an engaging and highly informative read. It's also peppered with the sort of hope, iron will, and sheer insanity only the direst of circumstances unearth—like stalwart mushers and their unendingly amazing dogs who painstakingly manage to carry diphtheria serum along the treacherous route to Nome while battling blizzards, white-out conditions, shifting sea ice, and temperatures down to -70 degrees. NEGATIVE SEVENTY DEGREES. I have no real barometer for that sort of cold, and I'm grateful I don't.
Once again and forever: Dogs are amazing, and we don't deserve them.
*In my defense I checked this book out from the library well before the word "pandemic" was uttered, but still: yikes.
[Three-point-five stars for a story I knew in pieces, and so many more pieces I didn't know.]
I would, however, definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in Alaskan history, including but not limited to the true story behind some of the most heroic sled-dogs in history and one of the best animated movies of all-time (Balto! The original, 1995 version). This story also includes heaps of interesting and essential Indigenous history (as any story about the history of Alaska should), and it handles that history with respect and reverence.
Well-written and well-researched, with a handful of sections that read a bit slower and felt a bit more difficult to navigate, overall this book is an engaging and highly informative read. It's also peppered with the sort of hope, iron will, and sheer insanity only the direst of circumstances unearth—like stalwart mushers and their unendingly amazing dogs who painstakingly manage to carry diphtheria serum along the treacherous route to Nome while battling blizzards, white-out conditions, shifting sea ice, and temperatures down to -70 degrees. NEGATIVE SEVENTY DEGREES. I have no real barometer for that sort of cold, and I'm grateful I don't.
Once again and forever: Dogs are amazing, and we don't deserve them.
*In my defense I checked this book out from the library well before the word "pandemic" was uttered, but still: yikes.
[Three-point-five stars for a story I knew in pieces, and so many more pieces I didn't know.]
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
The Cruelest Miles.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Started Reading
April 30, 2020
– Shelved
April 30, 2020
– Shelved as:
2020
April 30, 2020
– Shelved as:
running-with-the-wolves
April 30, 2020
– Shelved as:
true-stories
April 30, 2020
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-2 of 2 (2 new)
date
newest »
![Down arrow](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/down_arrow-1e1fa5642066c151f5e0136233fce98a.gif)
message 1:
by
Jessica
(new)
-
added it
May 02, 2020 07:12AM
![Jessica Kelley](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1412620783p1/35682260.jpg)
reply
|
flag
![Kerri Anne](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1610290999p1/374456.jpg)