Chrissie's Reviews > The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic

All the time I was listening to this book I enjoyed myself.

OK, you know the book is about the race to get anti-toxin serum to the residents of Nome, Alaska. An incipient diphtheria epidemic threatened. This has come to be known as The 1925 Serum Run to Nome. 20 mushers and about 150 sled dogs, primarily Siberian Huskies, raced 674 miles (1085 km) in five and a half days from Nenana in central Alaska to Nome in the northwestern corner of Alaska. This normally took 25 days! Nome is located on the southern edge of the Seward Peninsula, 2° south of the Arctic Circle. It lay icebound and wracked by blizzards. The temperature in the interior was at a twenty year low -50°F (-46°C). It was January and daylight hours limited. Maps were erroneous or completely lacking. How was this to be done? Airflight - in an open cockpit plane? There were three dismantled Standard J biplanes and a willing pilot in Fairbanks. There was a rail line to Nenana. Could possibly an aircraft carrier be employed? The age-old means of transport was dogsleds. Mail was at this time transported by dogsleds. A limited supply of serum was found in the Anchorage Railroad Hospital. It was transported by train to Nenana. On Governor Scott Bone's orders it was decided that this first batch of serum would be transported by dogsled relay to Nome. Two fast teams would be employed, one starting in Nome the other in Nenana, meeting at Nulato. Then a second batch was found and that too had to be dispatched. Another death occurred, which was in fact probably not caused by diphtheria. Plans were altered. Decision makers had competing agendas. All of this is discussed in great detail.

I found the step by step transport of the serum to Nome confusing at times - due to the varying viewpoints, changes in plans, shifting weather conditions and altered circumstances. More clarity would have helped. You need maps – the city Seward is not on the Seward Peninsula! Much attention is given to musher Seppala and his dog Togo as well as musher Kaasen and his dog Balto. In this book, and in the media coverage at the time, less is said about the other mushers and their dogs. The relay mushers on the segment across the interior were predominantly native Athabaskans. Kaasen and Balto kind of steal the show….unfortunately! There is a statue of Balto in NYC’s Central Park. The author does point out this controversy concerning the relative importance of the two, but I wish he had covered the other mushers more. Also, I would have appreciated more information about the disease itself. Is there an explanation for why it occurred? Those are my complaints.

So what I am saying is that the background information was great but the details of the race could have been improved. You learn about Eskimo and Athabaskans traditions and beliefs. About the preparation of food, how clothing is made, housing, how Nome was first established, the gold rush, about flora and fauna, about aircraft, mail routes, the original Russian sale of Alaska to the US. About storms. Fascinating stuff. And great dog stories. We do not give dogs the credit they deserve!

So while I read I enjoyed every bit. Afterwards I thought of things that could have been improved. I have decided to switch four to three stars, but this is still a book I can wholeheartedly recommend.

The audiobook narration by Barrett Whitener was nice and slow. You have time to think, time to absorb, time to learn.