Home Books A Libertarian Walks into a Bear: The Utopian Plot…

A Libertarian Walks into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears)

A Libertarian Walks into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears)

by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling

PublicAffairs ·2020 ·288 pages
Near the Top
Near the Top
I Index
52/99
Top of the Pile

77/99

Critics' Rating Index

Maybe Someday

28/99

Readers' Rating Index

n/a

Scholars' Citation Index

51/99

Volume of Reviews

80/99

Volume of Reader Ratings

Sign in to add to your shelf, rate, or review this book.


About This Book

A tiny American town's plans for radical self-government overlooked one hairy detail: no one told the bears. Once upon a time, a group of libertarians got together and hatched the Free Town Project, a plan to take over an American town and completely eliminate its government. In 2004, they set their sights on Grafton, NH, a barely populated settlement with one paved road. When they descended on Grafton, public funding for pretty much everything shrank: the fire department, the library, the schoolhouse. State and federal laws became meek suggestions, scarcely heard in the town's thick wilderness. The anything-goes atmosphere soon caught the attention of Grafton's neighbors: the bears. Freedom-loving citizens ignored hunting laws and regulations on food disposal. They built a tent city in an effort to get off the grid. The bears smelled food and opportunity. A Libertarian Walks into a Bear is the sometimes funny, sometimes terrifying tale of what happens when a government disappears into the woods. Complete with gunplay, adventure, and backstabbing politicians, this is the ultimate story of a quintessential American experiment -- to live free or die, perhaps from a bear.


Reviews

"In a United States wracked by virus, mounting climate change, and ruthless corporate pillaging and governmental deregulation, the lessons from one tiny New Hampshire town are stark indeed ..."

Patrick Blanchfield· The New Republic Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"The firefighter put out the word that the little burg in which he lived, 'a flyspeck town buried in the woods of New Hampshire's western fringe,' could be a paradise for libertarians, if only enough of them would move there and take control of—yes, the government ..."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

"His voice is breezy and critical, with a finely tuned eye aimed at the absurdities as well as at the earnestness of the Free Town Project ..."

Reid Forgrave· The Minneapolis Star Tribune Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"The author lets individuals have their version of the story before citing factors excluded by their worldview that make the reality more complicated."

Amanda Gokee· Los Angeles Review of Books Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Journalist Hongoltz-Hetling chronicles the libertarian takeover of Grafton, N.H., in his witty and precisely observed debut ..."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

Preview


Reader Reviews

0 reviews

Sign in to write a review.

No reader reviews yet. Be the first!