Plow the Dirt but Watch the Sky

<p>Despite—or maybe because of—the repetitious toil regular exposure to weather extremes and<br>smelly proximity of large animals farm life on the Great Plains was a blessing for Martin Kufus.<br>It instilled a work ethic tolerance for unpleasantness and appreciation of the outdoors—even if<br>Kufus didn't follow his forefathers into agriculture. The tractor-driving manure-shoveling farm<br>boy instead would become a camera-packing newspaper reporter Russian-speaking Army<br>paratrooper foreign correspondent (briefly) in the Middle East editor of a controversial military<br>magazine volunteer firefighter and flood rescuer homeland-security specialist and armed guard<br>on a cargo ship in African-pirate waters. These and other experiences comprise 26 whistle stops<br>chapters A is for America through Z is for Zodiac in the narrative journey Plow the Dirt but<br>Watch the Sky. Kufus' unvarnished descriptions of mistakes tragedies and family dysfunction<br>additionally give this book a self-revelatory quality (perhaps familiar to readers of working-class<br>nonfiction like J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy). A well-lived life doesn't require wealth a famous<br>surname or a metropolitan upbringing.</p>