Plot summary
The start of the book chronicles Joe "Mack" Makatozi's daring escape from captivity and introduces another captive, an English chemist whom the Soviets believe is working on chemical warfare agents. The chemist is mentioned later, as the first mistake of their captor Zamatev, because it turned out he was only working on developing insect repellents.
The success of Mack's subsequent foot travel, across Siberia to the Bering Strait, is dependent on his Native American hunting, tracking, and evasion skills. It is mentioned several times in the text that these skills had been taught by his people to each generation, over thousands of years. Now, the skilled aviator must remember and practice the archery, fire-making, tracking, stalking, hunting, skinning, and ambush skills taught by his elders. Knowing that "a man with a knife can survive", he sneaks into a miner's cabin, and leaving no evidence he was there, steals preserved food, a heavy sweater, and a knife. Although this knife is needed for Mack to survive in the wilderness, his theft of the knife gives the Yakut tracking him a clue as to where to begin searching for Mack.
Mack also has strong attachments to his people's discipline and self-mastery. When he comes upon an army patrol he crawls inside an old hollow tree to hide. His pursuers make camp in the same area, and he must remain motionless until it gets dark, and only the sentries are awake. When captured, he is roughly beaten by his pursuers, but true to his heritage, he never makes a sound. A man who previously informed on him unlocks the shed he is in and allows Mack to escape. Mack ends up killing Alekhin the Yakut, who was following him, and sending his scalp back to Colonel Arkady Zamatev with a note written on birchbark that reads: "This was once a custom of my people. In my lifetime I shall take two. This is the first."
At the end of the book, the success of Mack's 90-mile kayak ride to Alaska is left unresolved. The resolution of the story is left to the reader's imagination.
The Bering Strait is a strait between the Pacific and Arctic oceans, separating the Chukchi Peninsula of the Russian Far East from the Seward Peninsula of Alaska. The present Russia-United States maritime boundary is at 168° 58' 37" W longitude, slightly south of the Arctic Circle at about 65° 40' N latitude. The Strait is named after Vitus Bering, a Danish explorer in the service of the Russian Empire.
Cape Dezhnyov or Cape Dezhnev ;, formerly known as East Cape or Cape Vostochny, is a cape that forms the easternmost mainland point of Asia. It is located on the Chukchi Peninsula in the very sparsely populated Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of Russia. This cape is located between the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Strait, 82 kilometres (51 mi) across from Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska; the Bering Strait is delimited by the two capes. The Diomede Islands and Fairway Rock are located in the midst of the strait.
Louis Dearborn L'Amour was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels, though he called his work "frontier stories". His most widely known Western fiction works include Last of the Breed, The Walking Drum, Hondo, Shalako, and the Sackett series. L'Amour also wrote historical fiction, science fiction, non-fiction (Frontier), and poetry and short-story collections. Many of his stories were made into films. His books remain popular and most have gone through multiple printings. At the time of his death, almost all of his 105 existing works were still in print, and he was "one of the world's most popular writers".
Semyon Ivanovich Dezhnyov was a Russian explorer of Siberia and the first European to sail through the Bering Strait, 80 years before Vitus Bering did. In 1648 he sailed from the Kolyma River on the Arctic Ocean to the Anadyr River on the Pacific. His exploit was forgotten for almost a hundred years and Bering is usually given credit for discovering the strait that bears his name.
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Colonel Sebastian Moran is a fictional character in the stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. An enemy of Sherlock Holmes, he first appears in the 1903 short story "The Adventure of the Empty House". Holmes once described him as "the second most dangerous man in London", the most dangerous being Professor Moriarty, Moran's employer.
Shalimar the Clown is a 2005 novel by Salman Rushdie. The novel took Rushdie four years to write, and was initially published on 6 September 2005 by Jonathan Cape. Shalimar the Clown derives its name from Shalimar Gardens, in the vicinity of Srinagar. Srinagar is one of several Mughal Gardens, which were laid out in several parts of undivided India when the Mughals reigned over the subcontinent. Shalimar is also the name of one of the characters featured in the novel. Shalimar the Clown won the 2005 Vodafone Crossword Book Award and was one of the finalists for the 2005 Whitbread Book Awards.
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Laikas are aboriginal spitz from Northern Russia, especially Siberia but also sometimes expanded to include Nordic hunting breeds. Laika breeds are primitive dogs who flourish with minimal care even in hostile weather. Generally, laika breeds are expected to be versatile hunting dogs, capable of hunting game of a variety of sizes by treeing small game, pointing and baying larger game and working as teams to corner bear and boar. However a few laikas have specialized as herding or sled dogs.
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Rogue Male is a 1976 British television film starring Peter O'Toole, based on Geoffrey Household's 1939 novel Rogue Male. Made by the BBC, it was adapted by Frederic Raphael, directed by Clive Donner and also stars Alastair Sim, John Standing and Harold Pinter. It was first broadcast on 22 September 1976.
The Burning Hills is a 1956 American CinemaScope Western directed by Stuart Heisler and starring Tab Hunter and Natalie Wood, based on a 1956 novel by Louis L'Amour.
Fedot Alekseyevich Popov was a Russian explorer who organized the first European expedition through the Bering Strait.
The Yakutian Laika is an ancient working dog breed that originated in the Arctic seashore of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic. Yakutian Laikas are multipurpose laikas, with many lineages able to herd reindeer, hunt game and/or pull a sled. They are registered with the Russian Kennel Club, the FCI and the AKC's Foundation Stock Service in 2017.
