This remarkable author relates an ancient saga of northern courage in a 20th century setting, the frozen arctic rim of the North American continent. Pam Flowers, respiratory therapist by profession but dog musher by choice, lived a lifelong dream when she, her dogs, and supply-laden sleds made a 2500-mile trek above the Arctic Circle from Barrow in Alaska to Repulse Bay on the northwestern shore of Canada's Hudson Bay.

Alone with a tandem pair of dogsleds pulled by the eight Husky-mix dogs she trained herself, Flowers spent more than a year en route. She left Barrow Feb. 14, 1993, and mushed triumphantly - and gratefully - into the Inuit village on Hudson's Bay Jan. 9, 1994. The Mayor and ten others from the small settlement came out to greet and congratulate her. To Flowers, who had spent so long alone on the trek, the group seemed like a crowd.

It is the spirit of adventure that motivates the courage and daring of the small, 100-pound woman who is pictured engulfed by her bulky arctic gear and huge insulated boots. Her notes and photos of the careful planning and training for that epic journey clearly convey the danger, the excitement and the moments of trepidation when facing the barren and forbidding arctic.

This determined little woman has run the famed 1200-mile Iditarod Race to Nome, Alaska in 1983. "I ran," she writes, "not to win, but to learn about caring for dogs on long journeys." She put the knowledge she gained into two later, successful trips to the Magnetic North Pole and several trips along the northern coast of Alaska. Finally came the idea to retrace the route of the historic journey of Knud Rasmussen in 1923.

To provide herself with adequate supplies for herself and her dogs for such a long trip. Flowers mailed ahead bundles of necessities to be stashed, along with extra fuel for her little stove, at schools in settlements along her route. In return for that courtesy, on her arrival she talked to the classes about her life, her mushing, and her dogs.

Flowers' much-loved dogs, with all their individual personality traits and quirks, become the stars of this story. Their names become in the narrative as familiar as beloved characters in a novel. These are pets only in a secondary sense; first and foremost, they are work dogs born and bred and they enjoy the runs over ice and snow every bit as much as their driver. They can sense an approaching storm, sniff a polar bear and recognize the faintly distant lights of a settlement that sends them racing forward.
Every moment of the story of this journey is absorbing, even the lengthy periods of storms and whiteouts when Flowers waits them out in her tiny pyramidal tent. There are dangers and there is frustration. There is fear and there is joy. At its end Flowers felt a surge of accomplishment. She had made that trip... because she wanted to!

Like adventure? This book has it on every page! Prefer suspense? Try figuratively walking behind Pam Flowers as she crosses rotting arctic ice, not knowing whether she'll be able to make it to land. Want a good animal story? Here's one that stars eight dogs, with other species making cameo appearances. And, by the way, it also shows a lot about the incredible bonds of trust, companionship and loyalty which can develop in a team which includes dogs and humans. Hope to inspire someone to dream big dreams and work hard to make them come true? This is one of the most inspirational books I've ever read. And there's more...cross-cultural experiences, lots of information about life and survival in today's Arctic regions, history and humor.

Written for fifth and sixth graders, this is a definite cross-over book. I can't imagine an adult who would find it childish; third and fourth graders will enjoy listening to it.

The well-chosen photos illustrate the perhaps-unexpected beauty of the coastal Arctic, as well as the harshness of parts of the trip. And the side bars provide lots of information which illuminates the story without interrupting its flow.

What a woman! What a dog team! What a story!

I came to know about this book because a member of our church choir is a friend of the incredible woman who undertook to live out her dream of retracing the journey of Knud Rasmussen from Repulse Bay to Barrow, Alaska....some 2,500 miles along the entire length of the North American Arctic coast and loaned it to my wife.

I was happily reading Ken Follet's most recent novel when this book arrived in our home. Because the story is about dogs, the human spirit and an amazing adventure, I started reading what it had to say. It was soon after that I decided that Mr. Follet's book could wait.

Several houurs after that, I am writng this review and suggesting, urging, imploring, anyone who has an appreciation of what is involved with staking it all in answering your life's dream to give yourselves a wonderful present and read this book.

You will learn a lot about what it takes to own and run a team of sled dogs, about what is involved in planning such an expedition and all of the pitfalls to be avoided...but more importantly, you will have your eyes opened to a corner of the human spirit that too many of us shy away from as being..too dangerous..too odd..too off the wall..which will make you assess what it is that is important in your life. We already know what is important with the author's life from reading the book. However, she did not write this book to encourage more sled dogging. The book is a beautiful metaphor about life and one's dreams and one's soul. This author found the key. So should we all. Do yourself a favor and buy a copy of this most wonderful adventure.
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Since writing the review that appears above, I have learned that the book was the recipient of a First Place award at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in the catagory TRAVEL ESSAY. It is well deserved and the book has goine into a second printing.

I have owned 3 copies of this book...the most recent being the 1996 version. The book is an absolute wonderland of information about fishing, camping, siteseeing,....ad infinitum - on the great(ist) state to the north - Alaska. I have been saved many times (gas, motels, food) by referencing this book while traveling in the north. My fist experience with Milepost was in 1982 when we drove the Alcan and Cassiar highways to Alaska. If you take this type trip without this book it is like working with half your brain!! (or less). It can't be recommended enough, even if you are flying into Alaska and renting a car (or taking a taxi, or a float plane!!).

This is the best source for travel to Alaska, whether you are traveling by car, plane or cruiseship. I bought a copy to plan my trip last May ('97). I was traveling alone, and was not renting a car.

The guide lists shuttle services, train services, ferries, phone numbers for major and minor attractions, and has a fairly comprehensive listing of all hotels, motels, B&B's, restaurants, etc. The book list everything, milepost by milepost, for every region of the state. It will save you time and money. This will become your bible for travel in and around Alaska!

This is a book to take with you for saving those souvenirs like ticket stubs, postcards, brochures, etc. and the memories from the trip of a lifetime!

If your budget allows for only one guidebook -- this is THE BEST, bar none!

I made a trip from Atlanta, GA to Alaska this summer and wore down this book in a few short days. The confusing, lonley (and sometimes unpaved) miles of road North demand exactly the kind of detail The Milepost provides. The book also includes practical info on gas stations, food, and where to find your next drink. Don't go North without it.

I found out about this book on the Web .............., and I'm really glad I bought it! This is a gripping tale, one that you'll find hard to put down once you begin. The author succeeds admirably in making his readers feel that they're living through the shipwreck, the cold winter camp, and then the horrible trip in a little boat to seek rescue. It's hard to believe that these men actually managed to survive their ordeal, but this book, Farallon : Shipwreck and Survival on the Alaska Shore, really portrays the kind of courage and stamina that it takes to come through alive. I was glad that I had a nice warm home in which to sit and read this one!

I read every shipwreck story I can get my hands on, and this one ranks right up at the top of my list! The author has captured the excitement and heartbreak perfectly; I felt like I was living the adventure right there with the men on the Farallon. This book makes an excellent addition to my collection. Also, there is a Web site with more information about this book and Steve Lloyd's next shipwreck adventure, which I'm eager to get my hands on! ( ).

There have been a number of recent books published about disaster and survival in cold places, and Farallon: Shipwreck and Survival on the Alaska Shore is among the best. The Farallon was a wooden steamship that sunk in Alaska in 1910, and this book is the story of the men who were aboard as passengers and crew, and how they survived being cast away in the barren wilderness in midwinter.

The author provides plenty of background on the various mariners and ships that played a part in the events that unfolded while pacing the narrative in a very compelling manner. Lloyd's research (which was clearly extensive) is well-documented, unlike other "true adventure" books I've read where the reader is never sure what actually happened, and what parts represent the author's artistic license.

I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in history or shipwrecks, and especially to those readers who enjoy a well-told story of man's strength and resolve in times of incredible adversity!

In The Rescue Season Bob Drury drops you onto the forbidding mountains of Alaska to witness rescues by true heroes. In this age of me first whiners the PJ's and Park Service Rangers Drury vividly portays in The Rescue Season are fascinating true life characters. The evocative descriptions of a strange hard land and the hair-raising stories of these daredevils kept me up til Five Am two nights running. Definitely in the same league with The Perfect Storm and Into Thin Air. I look forward to Drury's next.

Most readable. Captures the reality and brutality of Denali and the Alaskan mountains from the perspective of both the users (climbers) and the rescuers (PJs). It portrayed the unselfish heroism of the PJs, who risk their lives in a nonjudgemental way as they pluck illprepared climbers from the precipices of Denali. The vivid descriptions of the terrain and the fickle and unforgiving weather place the reader at the scene. It read like an adventure novel due in part to Drury's objective yet suspenseful reporting style. At times the reader is distracted by Drury's habit of using historical and literary references which really require footnoting for full effect. It would make a great weekly TV adventure series!

This is a story of real heroes. Not pumped up testosterone overdosed movie heroes, but guys that are as normal as you and me. They have a job to do, and they do it, and stay until everyone is accounted for. While the rest of the military exercises, the 210th is out there on real missions, saving the lives of nearly 70 people a year. There are two points made in the book that I, and anyone else living here can appreciate. First, Alaska is the most beautiful place in the world, but it's not an amusement park. The wilderness here is unforgiving to even the slightest mistake, and sadly, many don't go home. The second point he makes is that rescue is a community effort of which the 210th Rescue Squadron plays a big part. The Park Service, the Rescue Coordination Center and the State Troopers, and many others all have their hands in the mix, and if it weren't for the cooperation of all these heroes, even more people would die. I must applaud Mr. Drury for keeping me in the book until I was finished. His gripping style makes me want to read it again and again. This is a group of people I'm glad to be aquainted with, and if you read the book you'll wish you were too. Thanks, Bob. In a day when the "extreme" sports and "reality" survival TV shows get the press it's nice to get a dose of reality. These are real heroes. They don't do it for the recognition, the money or the thrill. They do it so that others may live.

I ordered this book based on rave reviews of others. Initially, the shift in time from one scene to another is confusing, but once the reader gets used to the format, the book is engrossing. Having also read Winterdance, by Gary Paulsen, I was prepared for the descriptions of the grueling test the mushers and dogs face. What was great about THIS book is the realism of the event and especially the character sketches of "name" mushers. The other mushers in the race are far more than just names, they are real people, acting in the "sometimes great, sometimes evil, sometimes stupid, sometimes humane" way that real people do. In addition, because the book spends a lot of time "in the back" of the race, you understand that the Iditarod tests ALL the mushers, not just the winners.

This is far from the best-written non-fiction book I have ever read. The journalist's experience writing in the shorter form of articles shows through in the disjointed feel of much of the narrative. This is still well worth the read if you have any interest in Alaska, mushing, or man's working relationship with dogs. Even without those interests you may well find the book enjoyable.
At the beginning I was first overcome by the romantic notion of this amazing race, and reading through his preparations deluded myself with the fantasy of doing such a thing myself (a real joke considering how much I dislike even camping). Once the race gets underway, my most common thought was "these people are ...insane!" It was terrific and I really wanted to know how it would turn out for each and every one of them.
The title can provide for some fun too. The other day I overheard from another room Child A ask, "What is a lesbian?" Child B responded, "It is a type of dog." After much laughter I had to call them in and correct it, although I had fun imagining the kind of conversation this could cause in public at one point if they were both left with their misconception.
Since you are on this page, and reading these reviews, you are probably interested enough in the subject that reading this book would be a positive experience for you.

Brian O'Donoghue uses his experience as a journalist with his flair as a writer to give you all the facts you need to appreciate the depth of his true adventure as a musher. I bought and read this book in Alaska, and it made me want to stay and witness the insane spectacle of the Iditarod. Here's a guy who knows he must be crazy to try this race, yet he does it, only to find a whole group of people equally crazy or more so, in somewhat the same way.

I loaned it to someone... and they liked it so well I never saw that copy again! In short, get two.

Imagine yourself as a young, teenage boy with a gigantic 1000-pound grizzly for a pet that might be slaughtered. Gentle Ben by Walt Morey is a fascinating adventure story of a young boy named Mark and a great bear. Mark bought the big bear from Fog Benson, a drunkard. The town folks tell him "Get rid of the bear, or we'll shoot him''. What can Mark do? Read this exciting, glamorous story to find out the fate of this huge but gentle bear. Walt Morey is a great writer and has written Kavik the Wolf Dog and Home is the North and lots of more. This is the best adventure story I have ever read. You got to try Gentle Ben.

The story takes place in Alaska just before the salmon season. In this part of Alaska this is the only time of year the town is full of people. It starts with a boy named Mark Anderson who is secretly hanging around a brown bear that has been chained up and not properly taken care of by a man named Fog Benson. After Marks parents Karl and Ellen find out about this they are angry but eventually they let him buy it from Fog so he can have it for himself. To pay for the bear Mark helps his dad with the fishing later Fog and some men attack Ben and then Ben hurts Fog Benson. This causes the whole town to be scared of Ben and they eventually have to take him and let him free on an island. Karl Anderson and another one of his fishing friends Claywater decide to help deliver the mail by boat to another city while out they get caught in a storm and Claywater dies. There boat is also destroyed. Since they don't have a boat anymore Karl Anderson takes a job at a fishing trap on an island where they meet up with Ben and protect him from Fog Benson and his hunting trips. In the end the hunters leave him alone and Ben lives safely on the island waiting for the Andersons to return next fishing season.

This is a book about a young boy who has a special friendship with an Alaskan Brown Bear named Ben. Ben is not only gentle, but very loving and loyal to his owner, Mark. The author describes Ben so well that it sounds real. This is the most interesting book I've ever read. Brendan Parra, Nazareth School, 5th grade.

Phenomenal! I've become so involved with the characters that they almost become a part of me as I'm reading Harrison's books. I read the first trilogy two times -- the first time I've ever reread anything. Each of Sue Harrison's books ends too soon. What a great escape for me! The storytelling is incredibly vivid and I have learned so much about these ancient people. Could anyone recommend a writer of Sue Harrison's caliber that writes about prehistoric cultures? Please email me.

I enjoyed this book and reommend it to anyone who wants a good, solid, engrossing story. Sue Harrison has done meticulous research to write this tale of 6th century B.C .Alaskan human relationships and lifestyles. As an archaeologist I usually pick up similar books with great trepidation since they are all too often written from a modern viewpoint and are filled with 20th century motives, passionate love, predictable plots, etcetera (I recall one whose heroine jumped "onto mat"---no beds in those times---with every warrior she met). "Song of the River", however, gives us believable characters, situations, and conflict resolutions for the time period and locale. In addition, the reader learns about what the technology, belief systems, economy and social structure may have been in prehistoric Alaska. A good book to curl up with and learn from.

this book was absolutley amazing. Sue harrison is a wonderful writer. The characters come to life in her novels. Her books are so vivid. I could imagine myself in that time period. can not wait to find out what happens in the next book Cry Of THe Wind.

The "rapid fire" writing style renders this book difficult to read. The book is 300 pages long and it contains over 200 bear stories. Some are only a few words long and lack detail to such an extent that I wonder why they were included. Some are loaded with useful information. Others are simply pointless. Most were taken from a magazine verbatim.

Cynthia Dusel-Bacon's story alone was worth the price of the book. She wrote it herself after her terrible mauling and Larry Kaniut quoted it. Read her story and tell me you don't think black bears are dangerous and predatory.

I'd buy this book and keep it on my book shelf but I must tell you that I couldn't finish it because the last few chapters were simply too boring to be tolerable.

I read this book and the sequal to it and found this and the other book to be a fairly accurate depiction af a bears traits and also it showed the bear as not a sensless savege killer but shed a little light on his behavior and his reactions to human interaction. Mr Kanut took the time to research his topic and in my mind this is a book that I can read over and over again. Also the fact that he pulled no punches in each of his stories no matter who was to blame for the encounter or the outcome of the encounter.

The stories are true life and death events of people who have been mauled by both black and brown bears in the Alaskan wilderness. This book gave me a new respect for bear and their habitat. Anyone who likes the outdoors where bears are present should read this book. A note of caution. This stories contian the bloody details that are the result of bear attacks. You may have a few sleepless nights on your next camping.

The Spirit of '98, a small cruise ship, sets sail up the Inside Passage of Alaska to commemorate the Gold Rush of 1898. Alex Jensen and his girlfriend Jessie Arnold are aboard as official representatives of the State of Alaska. Alex is looking forward to a leisurely cruise, but his police skills are called into play when some valuable items are stolen from several staterooms. Soon the problems compound when a dead body is found in the water and one of the crewmembers disappears. In the meantime, 2 men have stolen a sailboat and later a powerboat to commit a crime which is unknown to them. Eventually the two story lines merge and the entire ship is threatened by a diabolical plot. Alex untangles the mystery and sets out to save the ship from imminent danger. Sue Henry can always be counted on for wonderful descriptions of Alaska interwoven with an intriguing mystery.

Fundamentally, this is a good "locked room" sort of mystery. On a ship with less than 200 people (and 15 tons of gold) there's only so many places to look for a murder. Still, Alex and Jessie have quite a search on their hands as sub-plots emerge. Periodic, anonymous conversations by the bad guys only add to the suspense. The final 20% of the book has lots of action (and remarkably little blood).

The use of the scenery is both a strong and weak point in the book. This series is a favorite because I enjoy the armchair traveling experience of going to Alaska in the books. Maybe it was having to listen to every word on tape, but the traveloge was a bit too much in this book.

Finally, make sure to read the author's notes. This book is based on a real ship and a real anniversary sailing. Lots of real people are used as characters which is fun.

Alaska state trooper Sergeant Alex Jensen and his girlfriend Iditarod veteran Jessie Arnold are excited as they join the centennial celebration of the famous Klondike gold rush. On board the cruise ship is many famous people and a million dollars worth of gold. This is expected to be the gala event of the season and Alex plans to relish the event by wearing full dress attire at the party.

Everything changes when rooms are broken into and valuables stolen. Things get even nastier when someone tries to murder a celebration official. They turn downright ugly when a crew member is found dead. Alex and Jessie begins to investigate the incidents in which there are many suspects, including someone(s) who prefer to remain anonymous.

No one does Alaska (historical and present) better than Sue Henry does and her fourth Alex Jensen mystery enhances her reputation for brilliantly scribing the final frontier. Though the dialogue occasionally seems artificial, the lead characters remain refreshingly huggable and the story line is fast paced and extremely interesting. Readers will want to book a ticket on the cruise ship, DEATH TAKES PASSAGE. The audience will know that they have gotten their money's worth.

Harriet Klausner

I have not read Joe Haldeman before and if this is an example I will definitely pass the next time someone offers me one of his books. Okay, I thought the book was science fiction. I was reading it expecting a life changing first contact novel. Instead, I got a travelogue of Americana circa 1890. The first part of the book was written like a travel journal but the only character is Rosa. We only experience what she experiences even though there are other characters in the story. We do not learn very much about them. We only see what Rosa shows us, which is usually scenery. It did not take long before I was bored out of my mind.

This book was very unsatisfying. Alas, the one redeeming quality about this novel is that it is short.

It is difficult to imagine that the author of this also wrote the Forever War. Though it has been over 25 years between the two. Nonetheless, the latter is exemplary hard military science fiction. But what about this book?

Its descriptions, told in the first person, of the late nineteenth century in the United States, are wonderfully done. They span the Civil War to the Alaskan gold rush. Reconstruction and the Gilded Age. But unlike say Jack Finney's "Time and Again", there is little intrigue here. Rather, we see society through the eyes of a single woman trying to raise her son. The constraints and norms it imposes on her seem so confining to us, but she describes them matter-of-factly, which deliberately adds to the dissonance that the author intends between the subject's experiences and ours.

Read this if you want some understanding of what it meant to be female and not wealthy or powerful in that United States.

Ah, but what about the SCIENCE fiction? A little sparse. Such as it is appears only in the last quarter or less of the book. The first three quarters is straight historical fiction, though within which, the subject keeps alluding to this mysterious thing. Slightly annoying. When it finally does happen, it is rather hokey. Bloody risible, actually. I found it unconvincing and simply not up to the author's standards in his earlier books.

She was only a child when the civil war started but her parents were wise enough to send her up North to relatives when it looked like the south would lose. She stayed at a boarding school until she went to Wellestey College where she met and later married Edward Tolliver, a rich and powerful man. The marriage wasn't a happy one but when Rosa saw her husband sodomize their son Daniel, she knew it was time to leave.

Rosa and Daniel traveled to Dodge City where they had many happy years together until a Pinkerton agent hired by Edward arrived on the scene to take Daniel back to his father. Daniel conked the agent over the head, allowing them to escape and they decide to see if they could get rich in Alaska. While Daniel is in the field panning for gold, a drunken miner kills him and Rosa decides to kill herself until a spirit guide named Raven takes her around the universe. When Rosa returns, her actions change the course of history and save millions of lives.

Award winning author Joe Haldeman has written a very simple story about a woman's fight to survive and triumph. What is not so simple is the way the protagonist has to learn those lessons but what would defeat another person doesn't even phase Rose. She takes what she learns and applies it to her everyday life and in doing so makes the world a better place.

Harriet Klausner