From Amazon
Cavalry officer Slavomir Rawicz was captured by the Red Army in 1939 during the German-Soviet partition of Poland and was sent to the Siberian Gulag along with other captive Poles, Finns, Ukranians, Czechs, Greeks, and even a few English, French, and American unfortunates who had been caught up in the fighting. A year later, he and six comrades from various countries escaped from a labor camp in Yakutsk and made their way, on foot, thousands of miles south to British India, where Rawicz reenlisted in the Polish army and fought against the Germans. The Long Walk recounts that adventure, which is surely one of the most curious treks in history.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"One of the most amazing, heroic stories of this or any other time."--Chicago Tribune
"You'll never complain about blisters again/"--BackPacker
Book Description
The harrowing true tale of escaped Soviet prisoners¿ desperate march out of Siberia, through China, the Gobi Desert, Tibet, and over the Himalayas to British India.
From the Inside Flap
“I hope The Long Walk will remain as a memorial to all those who live and die for freedom, and for all those who for many reasons could not speak for themselves.”
—Slavomir Rawicz
—Slavomir Rawicz
In 1941, the author and six fellow prisoners escaped a Soviet labor camp in Yakutsk—a camp where hunger, cold, untended wounds, untreated illness, and daily executions were everyday fare. Their route—thousands of miles by foot—out of Siberia, through China, the Gobi Desert, Tibet, and over the Himalayas to British India endures as a statement of man’s desire to be free.
Written with haunting detail, the book has stirred the hearts of many, including legendary director Peter Weir, whose film adaptation, The Way Back, was inspired by the story. Included in this special edition is an afterword, written by the author shortly before his death, and the author’s moving introduction to the book’s original Polish edition.
Guaranteed to stay in the reader’s mind, The Long Walk remains a testament to the strength of the spirit and to the universal desire for freedom and dignity that knows no borders.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Written with haunting detail, the book has stirred the hearts of many, including legendary director Peter Weir, whose film adaptation, The Way Back, was inspired by the story. Included in this special edition is an afterword, written by the author shortly before his death, and the author’s moving introduction to the book’s original Polish edition.
Guaranteed to stay in the reader’s mind, The Long Walk remains a testament to the strength of the spirit and to the universal desire for freedom and dignity that knows no borders.
From the Back Cover
In 1941, the author and a small group of fellow prisoners escaped a Soviet labor camp. Their march out of Siberia, through China, the Gobi Desert, Tibet, and over the Himalayas to British India is a remarkable statement about man's desire to be free.With a new Afterword by the author, and the author's Foreword to the Polish edition, this new edition of The Long Walk is destined to outrank its classic status. (6 X 9, 256 pages, map)"One of the epic treks of the human race. Shackleton, Franklin, Amundsen...history is filled with people who have crossed immense distances and survived despite horrific odds. None of them, however, has achieved the extraordinary feat Rawicz has recorded. He and his companions crossed an entire continent--the Siberian arctic, the Gobi desert and then the Himalayas--with nothing but an ax, a knife, and a week's worth of food...His account is so filled with despair and suffering it is almost unreadable. But it must be read--and re-read."--Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm"The Long Walk is a book that I absolutely could not put down and one that I will never forget..."--Stephen Ambrose
About the Author
Slavomir Rawicz was born in Pinsk in 1915. After his ordeal of The Long Walk he settled in England in 1944 were he remained for the rest of his life working in education. He died in 2004.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
From AudioFile
In the camps of the Siberian gulag, friends said it was hopeless. Nevertheless, in the spring of 1942 Slavomir Rawicz and four companions walked into British India, having journeyed four thousand miles by foot over tundra, Gobi, frozen rivers, and Himalayan peaks. A 26-year-old Polish cavalry officer arrested by the Soviets while home on leave in 1939, Rawicz survived on cunning, snake meat, and the kindness of countless strangers. Like a swimmer carefully counting breaths, John Lee narrates this astonishing adventure as if every word were a step on the long trek, the next phrase a precipice. His words resonate with Rawicz's text, savoring its long distances and carefully accommodating his pace to the tempo of the trek. Published originally in 1956, this timeless tale is given new life in Lee's fresh narration. P.E.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to the
Audio CD
edition.
