On the Edge of Nowhere [Paperback]

James Huntington (Author), Lawrence Elliott (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2002

His father is a white trapper, his mother an Athabascan Indian who walks a thousand miles in winter to reunite with her family. Thus, Jimmy Huntington learns early how to survive on the land. Huntington is only seven when his mother dies, and he must care for his younger siblings. A courageous and inspiring man, Huntington hunts wolves, fights bears, survives close calls too numerous to mention, and becomes a championship sled-dog racer.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...Funny, wildly exciting, and heartbreaking...a wonderful reading experience. --Publisher's Weekly

About the Author

Lawrence Elliott, who has written several books and numerous magazine articles, was Reader's Digest correspondent for Alaska and western Canada when this story was written in the mid-1960s. Elliott now lives in Luxembourg.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Epicenter Press (June 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970849338
• ISBN-13: 978-0970849335
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #68,159 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #23 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Reference & Collections

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On the Edge of your seat reading these Adventures, June 1, 2005

By 

Walsh "TW" (Quincy, MA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: On the Edge of Nowhere (Paperback)

This is a great read. I read it in two sittings because I couldn't stop.

Jim Huntington's brother Sidney also wrote a book many years after this one called "Shadows on the Koyokuk" which was as good as this and in fact has a bit more details of their shared youth.

Jim Huntington's story was terrific. Lot's of bush adventures with attacking Bears, Wolves, Injuries, etc. Did you know that the Eskimos and Indians of Alaska hated each other so much prior to American Law and Order that they killed each other on site? I didn't.

I really liked the admission that sometimes he succumbed to his human desires. In his circumstance I might well have done the same. If this was written now, this sexy morsal would surely have been ommitted for the sake of political correctness.

If you are a stickler for chronological stories, this may try nyour patience. It's more like your Grand Dad sitting by the fire recounting the days of yore. The Dog Sledding adventures were very good too and kept me on the edge of my seat. His contributions to his village and eventually the state of Alaska are well worth knowing about (especially if you are an Alaskan).

If I was going to read this and his brothers book, I would read this first. However, if I were going to read one or the other, I would favor Sidney's book. Though they aren't the same story, many parts are.

I highly recommend this.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I can't say enough good things about this book, July 9, 2005

By 

J. Marie (Seward, Alaska) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On the Edge of Nowhere (Paperback)

My dad read this book to me and my brother when I was 8 years old. We would come home from school and plead for him to read more about the Edge of Nowhere and adventures of Jimmy Huntington. We could have read it ourselves, but it was just that much more real when we heard the words aloud.

I now read "On the Edge of Nowhere" every couple years to remind myself of what it means to be a real Alaskan and a good human being. The reading is fast-paced and it's easy to get caught up in. I still smile, laugh, and cry right along with Jimmy when I read about his triumphs and losses.

People of all ages - whether Alaskan or not - will thoroughly enjoy this exciting and masterfully written account of the life of Jim Huntington.

Anyone who enjoys this book would do well to read "Shadows on the Koyukuk" by Jim's brother Sidney Huntington. There are some of the same stories with a different perspective, plus a lot of new stories from Sidney's own exciting life.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars this man did not live a soft life, August 20, 2007

By 

Glenn Yates (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: On the Edge of Nowhere (Paperback)

First I kind of feel like apologizing for only giving this four stars. I really did like this book, and I really did find it well written, but five stars is kind of where I put Brothers Kharmazov. Having said that, this is a great story of life growing up in the wilds of northern Alaska. It begins with the 1,000 mile overland survival walk of the author's Indian mother across the tundra to return home after testifying in the trial of the murderer of her first husband. From there the hard fought life of her trapper son gets chronicled as he and his brother virtually raise themselves in the wilds of the frozen country. The beauty and wildness come through, but more than that the spirit of the author and his family in not only pulling themselves up with the own bootstraps, but doing it time and time again after losing everything to floods, fire, disease, and even peculiar laws.

There was so much territory to cover, fitting in a way for a book about Alaska, that some stories such as his dogsled races (Iditarod precursors) that the author won could've filled a whole book but get only enough ink here to leave the reader wanting more. In any case, it's a great book, and well worth your time. The story of a miner, trapper, dogsled racer, merchant and eventually politician. To use a cliche, among the last of a fading breed.