Danger Stalks the Land : Alaskan Tales of Death and Survival

by Larry Kaniut

Release Date: 29 November, 1999

Edition: Paperback

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This book made me want to stay indoors forever

I could not put this book down. It is so gruesome, but every story is true! There are bear attacks, people falling through ice, plane crashes, ice storms...you name it; if it can happen in Alaska, then someone has lived to tell about it! I find it facinating to read about unbearable situations that people have survived. This book isn't for those of you who don't want to read the gory details, but if that's what you live for, then this is your book!!

Good for reading at bedtime or while camping

Alaska, despite its many cities and roads, is still a land with large vistas of wild, untamed territory. Kaniut's book is a collection of several dozen Alaskan tales of death and survival, ranging from plane crashes in poor weather to bear attacks, climbing accidents, entrapment in mudflats as the tidewater poured in, winter stranding on ice floes, badger mauling, frostbite on hunting forays gone wrong, and many other true dramas. While the book is rather limited in its straightforward, no-nonsense approach (one could, without being disrespectful, call the style prosaic), it does make for good bedtime reading before drifting off to sleep. The wildness of nature that demonstrates the numinous aspect of God's creation in the last few chapters of Job can be seen in these stories, reminding us that man is not the master of everything he surveys. Nature is wild, dangerous, and commands attention and respect. Ignore this and you might die or be severely crippled (as some of these stories demonstrate.) Overall, this was not a great book, but a good one, a decent selection to take along on a camping trip.