Saturday, August 18, 2018

Last of a Breed: Portraits of Working Cowboys Hardcover – May 9, 2017 by Martin H. M. Schreiber (Author), Louis L'Amour (Author), Buck (Ramsey (Author)(Verlag Kettler)



Plot: An American test pilot, Major Joe Mack, a half Sioux half Scottish man is shot down by Russians and taken prisoner to a camp in Siberia. There the ambitious Colonel Zamatev plans to break and interrogate the Major in order to further his experimental espionage operation. Mack's only option? To execute a daring escape in the dead of winter with only the clothes on his back. But where will he go? Stuck in the middle of Siberia during the Cold War, with no one from the Air Force aware of his being alive or a prisoner his only option will be to retrace the trek of his ancestors and cross the Bering Straight in order to get home to America.

My thoughts: This is a fantastical tall tale, it's hard to believe how much it engrossed me. Was is because it was my first taste of survival fiction? Maybe it was just a good story. I was reading it not for entertainment value but not specifically to learn from it and yet I was entertained and picked up a couple of things (to be verified). Here are somethings that rocked my boat:

Every character, even Joe, had great love for the land but little regard for governments.

There is great contempt for the bureaucracy. It's incompetence and apathy is reflected when Alekhin, the Yakut hunting the American, is hampered over and over by the governmental machine, "everything comes second to paperwork these days" he meditates.

Alekhin's character can be summed with this quote "He liked none of them, but he preferred to work with Zamatev. The man was cruel, ice hard, and ruthless. Alekhin did not like him, either, and it would be only what he deserved if the American turned around and went back to find and kill him.".

Of the four qualities a Sioux warrior must posses Mack knows himself brave and with fortitude but what about generosity and wisdom? Does he posses these? Can he survive without them? I like introspection, I think it's a powerful thing to know one's own strengths and weaknesses. And having a clear outlook of the challenges we may face is intrinsically tied to our ability to survive and prepare to face them.

The knowledge and skills Mack honed as a half Sioux in the Idaho wilderness and the training he received as an Air Force officer greatly aided him and somewhat prepared him for what he had to face in Siberia.

I think having a strong mind and heart guided by a well trained moral compass can make a ordinary person into an extraordinary survivor. I enjoyed Major Mack's indomitable wild spirit. His determination to live or die free, his mental readiness to evaluate and adapt to his circumstances, and his well founded faith on his chosen course are uplifting.
In closing survival and preparedness are not about any one thing but a combination and balance of many things. I think knowing who we are, what we're rooted in and what we can do are thoughts worth exploring on this quest we're on. I find that prepping and acquiring survival skills help cultivate many fine qualities and there's a lot more good lessons that can be taken from Mack's story. Last Of The Breed was an enjoyable read though there was a degree of repetitiveness, triteness and stereotypes I'm not fond of. All in all, I think this is a good read.

On Prepping and Surviving:
Staring into a fire messes up your night vision.
Learn to make a bow and arrows, also a sling.
There is no replacement for a good knife.
Always scout an alternate way out.
Game trails and wildlife can sometimes show you the way out of a tough spot.

Words of Wisdom:
"There are good men everywhere."
"Trust is often based on very little more than one's measure of a man."
"When I die, remember that what you knew of me is with you always."
"Possessions can rob one of freedom just as much as the bars of a cage."

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