BEFORE THE BELL

COMPILED BY MIKE BESSLER

It’s all well and good to proclaim the present era as “The Information Age” and celebrate the instant gratification of having thousands of libraries and millions of cat videos at humanity’s collective fingertips. But some of the best stories still remain off the beaten path of the so-called “Information Superhighway.” Such is the case with Brian R. Solomon’s new book, Blood and Fire: The Unbelievable Real-Life Story of Wrestling’s Original Sheik, in which he charts the life and legacy of Edward Farhat (one of wrestling’s most enduring enigmas).

Solomon traces Farhat’s origins back beyond his birth in Lansing, Michigan, beginning amidst the mountains of Lebanon, where Farhat’s parents and prior generations laid the groundwork for The Sheik’s uncanny rise to wrestling stardom. It’s a gritty journey, to be sure, winding through Farhat’s birth in the doldrums of the Great Depression through his service in the United States Army in the European Theater during World War II. But the lion’s share of this work addresses Farhat’s ascendency in the world of wrestling, from his invention and refinement of his in-ring persona to his ultimate manifestation as the villainous, pencil-gouging menace of the National