{"product_id":"totch-a-life-in-the-everglades-paperback","title":"Totch: A Life in the Everglades - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eLoren G. Totch Brown\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003ePeter Matthiessen\u003c\/b\u003e (Foreword by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the mysterious wilderness of swamps, marshes, and rivers that conceals life in the Florida Everglades, Totch Brown hung up his career as alligator hunter and commercial fisherman to become a self-confessed pot smuggler. Before the marijuana money rolled in, he survived excruciating poverty in one of the most primitive and beautiful spots on earth, Chokoloskee Island, in the mangrove keys known as the Ten Thousand Islands located at the western gateway to the Everglades National Park.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUntil he wrote this memoir--recollections from his childhood in the twenties that merge with reflections on a way of life dying at the hands of progress in the nineties--Totch had never read a book in his life. Still, his writing conveys the tension he experienced from trying to live off the land and within the laws of the land.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTold with energy and authenticity, his story begins with the handful of souls who came to the area a hundred years ago to homestead on the high ground formed from oyster mounds built and left by the Calusa Indians. They lived close to nature in shacks built of tin or palmetto fans; they ate wild meat, Chokoloskee chicken (white ibis), swamp cabbage, even--when they were desperate--manatee; and they weathered all manner of natural disaster from hurricanes to swarms of \"swamp angels\" (mosquitoes). In his grandpa's day, Totch writes, outlaws and cutthroats would \"shoot a man down just as quick as they'd knock down an egret, especially if he came between them and the plume birds.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis grandparents were both contemporaries of Ed J. Watson, the subject of Peter Matthiessen's best-selling \u003ci\u003eKilling Mr. Watson\u003c\/i\u003e, and Totch is featured in the recent award-winning PBS film \u003ci\u003eLost Man's River: An Everglades Adventure with Peter Matthiessen\u003c\/i\u003e. He also appeared in \u003ci\u003eWind Across the Everglades\u003c\/i\u003e, the 1957 Budd Schulberg movie in which Totch and Burl Ives sing some of Totch's Florida cracker songs.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the mysterious wilderness of swamps, marshes, and rivers of the Florida Everglades, Totch Brown hung up his career as alligator hunter and commercial fisherman to become, briefly, a self-confessed pot smuggler. Before the marijuana money rolled in, he survived excruciating poverty in one of the most primitive and beautiful spots on earth, Chokoloskee Island, nestled in the mangrove keys of the Ten Thousand Islands, located at the western gateway to the Everglades National Park. Until he wrote this memoir - recollections from his childhood in the twenties that merge with reflections on a way of life dying at the hands of progress in the nineties - Totch had never read a book in his life. Told with energy and authenticity, his story begins with the handful of souls who came to the area a hundred years ago to homestead on the high ground formed from oyster-shell mounds built and left by the Calusa Indians. They lived close to nature in shacks built of tin or palmetto fans; they ate wild meat, \"Chokoloskee chicken\" (white ibis), swamp cabbage, even - when they were desperate - manatee; and they weathered all manner of natural disaster from hurricanes to swarms of \"swamp angels\" (mosquitoes). His grandparents were both contemporaries of Ed J. Watson, the subject of Peter Matthiessen's best-selling Killing Mr. Watson, and Totch is featured with Matthiessen in the recent award-winning PBS film Lost Man's River: An Everglades Adventure. He also appeared in Wind Across the Everglades, the 1957 movie in which he and Burl Ives sing some of Totch's Florida cracker songs.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLoren G. \"Totch\" Brown\u003c\/b\u003e was born in Chokoloskee, Florida, in 1920. After purchasing his first motorboat at the age of thirteen (and retiring from formal schooling after the seventh grade) he worked as an alligator hunter, commercial fisherman, crabber, professional guide, poacher, marijuana runner, singer, and songwriter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 280\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.82 x 9.02 x 6.1 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 20, 1993\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45620421755077,"sku":"9780813012285","price":29.83,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0757\/6718\/5605\/files\/Ut89SgBxUr9780813012285.webp?v=1781325062","url":"https:\/\/selloorium.com\/products\/totch-a-life-in-the-everglades-paperback","provider":"Selloorium","version":"1.0","type":"link"}