A Grip on the Mane of Life: An Authorized Biography of Earl V. Shaffer

Author: David DonaldsonEdition: First EditionISBN: 0991221524Number Of Pages: 324Publisher: A.T. Museum SocietyDetails: After serving four and a half years in the Army during WWII-mostly in the battle-torn islands of the South Pacific-and along the way losing his best friend at Iwo Jima, Earl Shaffer came home to Pennsylvania with a large dose of military depression. After rattling around for a while he decided to act upon a prewar dream of hiking the entire Appalachian Trail, a decision that was spurred by reading a magazine article stating that such a feat was likely impossible. Earl achieved his goal, and history's muse presented him with a personal niche in her gallery. Over the course of three decades, he wrote a memoir of that hike that was published by the Appalachian Trail Conference as Walking with Spring. The book became an instant hiking classic. Most of Earl's writing was devoted to his first love, poetry. Earl penned more than a thousand poems during his lifetime, a trove