Life in the Trenches

The nature of storytelling hints at a fundamental human restlessness and insinuates human imperfection. Where there is perfection there is no story to share. In the 37 profiles within, there is no perfection. There are successes, failures, struggles and redemptions. There are falls from extraordinary perches and crushing victories and defeats and people driven to climb high in the first place. Life in the Trenches offers 37 narratives and stories of modern day trench warriors – Stephen King’s favorite folksinger; a Greco-Roman wrestler and MMA forefather from the Midwest; entertainment wrestlers so convincing as villains that they repeatedly put their own lives in danger. Some of the subjects have been retired and inactive for decades. Some simply swapped one trench for another. Some could turn even the simplest memory into something remarkably intense. Life in the Trenches is crammed with stories of the forgotten (Tim Witherspoon and the lost generation of 1980s heavyweights), the unpopular (one former NHL tough guy who has unleashed the wrath of hockey fight fans for his anti-fighting position), and the ultra-popular (“Rowdy” Roddy Piper is such a scoundrel in entertainment wrestling that he lives in seclusion on a mountaintop in Oregon).
There are no run-of-the-mill stories here.Humanity's legacy of stories and storytelling is the most valuable asset we have. This book is a nod to that precious quality. Subjects include Livingstone Bramble, Earnie Shavers, Sean O'Grady, Jim Abbott, "The Model" Rick Martel, Ivan Koloff, George "The Animal" Steele and a Montana bootmaker named Mike Ryan.