Scott Zuckerman first met Tom Tosto, the subject of his book, “Nothing Left to Prove, Nothing Left to Hide,” when he was the director of a pediatric emergency room and Tosto, eight years older, was a medical student.
“He went to medical school and became a physician at a fairly advanced age, certainly not the norm, and he and I developed a really close relationship during that period of time,” Zuckerman said. “But as often happens, we fell out of contact for probably, well, two decades, we didn't contact one another. He was happy to hear from me when I finally reached out to him.”
Knowing that Tosto had a full life, Zuckerman contacted him after finishing his first book, thinking his friend would made a good story.
“I discovered that after 9/11 he sold his medical practice, joined the 82nd Airborne Division, became a paratrooper at the age of 50, deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, and rose to the level of brigade surgeon,” he said. “So, my feeling was, this man's story needs to be told.”
After reconnecting with Tosto, Zimmerman spent two years researching before writing the book. The book details Tosto’s military career but also reveals the details of his family life and how interpersonal relationships in his family led him down the path that he took.
“His early life included some secrets, some things that he was not proud of, and really he sought redemption for that,” he said. “I like to think of this book as being a story of his journey toward redemption, and finally allowing me to tell his story is his ultimate redemption.”
Zuckerman will be giving a presentation Thursday, Nov. 7 at the Kimball Junction Library at 6:30 p.m. He has a 30-minute slide show, which includes some of the video interviews he conducted to write the book.
“I included video excerpts of Tom and Tom's sister, which was a very interesting interview, because they had quite a contentious relationship, and several of the men with whom he served,” he said.” I think that's going to give the audience a unique opportunity to see the characters in the book and hear them in their own voice and see their images on the screen.”
“Nothing Left to Prove, Nothing Left to Hide” is Zuckerman’s second book. His first book, “Dreams of my Comrades,” won first place in the nonfiction category in the 2015 Utah original writing competition.
He credits his love of writing to his high school English teacher, Frank McCourt, who went on to win a Pulitzer Prize for his memoir, “Angela’s Ashes.”
