I read a book some years ago that I'm now trying to re-locate. I read
books about walking/hiking, so that would feature somewhere in the
title or subject. It begins with a graphic scene of a soldier who is
being tortured (in Russia?) and he soils himself. He (and others)
eventually escape and trek over a huge desert, for weeks, it seems,
without water or food. The story seems improbable, but reads like a
great adventure that could be (and I think is classified as)
non-fiction. I've done the usual Google Answers searching to no avail.
Thank you for any thoughts on this book title.

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Request for Question Clarification by efn-ga on 26 Jun 2006 22:51 PDT

That sounds very much like "The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to
Freedom" by Slavomir Rawicz.

The publisher's blurb:

"In 1941, the author and six other fellow prisoners escaped a Soviet
labor camp in Yakutsk--a camp where enduring hunger, cold, untended
wounds, untreated illnesses, and avoiding daily executions were
everyday feats. Their march--over thousands of miles by foot--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."

(Source:  http://www.globepequot.com/globepequot/index.cfm?fuseaction=customer.product&product_code=1%2D59228%2D944%2D4&category_code=)

For more details, some reviews are available on the Web:

Amazon.com's page
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1558216847/102-6534949-0886514?v=glance&n=283155

Blog review by DrPat
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/31/184258.php

Wikipedia article on the author
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavomir_Rawicz

You noted that the story "seems improbable," and in fact, its truth
has been questioned since it was first published.  A previous Google
Answer dealt with this question.

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=303344

If you can confirm that this is the book you sought, I will post an
official answer.

--efn

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Clarification of Question by sallyc-ga on 27 Jun 2006 09:42 PDT

Hello efn-ga:
You found it! I've read some of the links you provided and this is the
book! Thank you so much, and please post the "official answer."  I'm
really impressed, and wonder what search terms you used to locate
this! And I'm delighted to read the discussions about the veracity of
the book, as I had all these same doubts.

sallyc

Hi sallyc,

I'm glad I was able to identify the book you sought.  Just to get it
in the answer space, it was "The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek
to
Freedom" by Slavomir Rawicz.

Here's a link to another article about the extent to which the book is factual.

http://outside1.away.com/outside/features/200301/200301_adventure_canon_9.html

I wish I had some search magic to share with you, but the truth is
that I have read the book myself and I remembered enough to recognize
it from your description.

Thanks,

--efn

Thanks again!