Spirit of the Wind

This is the stirring biography of George Attla, the little-known Athabaskan Indian from the tiny Koyuk River villge of Huslia, Alaska, who limped to the starting line in the 1958 Fur Rendezvous World Championship sled dog race in Anchorge. Attla's record-setting victory shocked the mushing establishment and ushered in a new era of sled dog racing. Over the next four decades, Attla and his village dogs captured more sprint championships than any other musher as he defended his titles repeatedly against better-financed teams from Alaska and the Lower 48 states. Becoming a mushing legend wasn't easy. Years of Attla's boyhood were spent in hospital beds far from home. Finally returning to Huslia, his knee permanently fused as a result of cripping bone tuberculosis, Attla turned to dog mushing to escape alienation and anger. Spirit of the Wind is an inspirational story you will not soon forget.