Neal Stephens is a photographer who returned to his hometown in Colorado after World War I to find another war raging in the little coal town: a conflict between union miners and Neal's uncle, Seamus, who runs the mine.
In the course of the labor fight, the local sheriff is found dead, and Neal stumbles across a larger conspiracy that could end his family's mining company and land him in prison for murder.
The plot is the premise of 's novel, "" (Leapfrog Press/2015), which explores the American populist movement, race, and the struggle of coming back from an unpopular war.
Host Frank Stasio talks with Gutierrez, a lecturer in the English and Comparative Literature department , about his debut novel, "The Trench Angel."
