A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear
The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (and Some Bears)
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A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear
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About this listen
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.
©2020 Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling (P)2020 PublicAffairsCritic Reviews
"[A] witty and precisely observed debut....Hongoltz-Hetling skillfully probes shortcomings and ironies in the libertarian philosophy....The result is an entertaining and incisive portrait of political ideology run amok." —Publishers Weekly
"An entertaining sendup of idealistic politics and the fatal flaws of overweening self-interest." —Kirkus
"Since the beginning, Americans have been fighting about the balance between individual liberty and the common good. Hongoltz-Hetling shows what can happen when one rural New Hampshire town went to the libertarian extreme in this madcap tale that zig-zags between tragedy and farce, with the possibility of being eaten." —Colin Woodard, New York Times best-selling author of American Nations and Union
What listeners say about A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 18-07-2021
Insert bear-based pun of your choice here
A highly enjoyable book with less dense, indigestible political analysis than I was hoping for.
The narrator does an excellent job in my opinion, investing just enough life into the telling to keep it engaging without any forced levity.
As for the book itself, expect a balanced combination of history, biography, small town politics, a sprinkling of statistics and a light sprinkling of salty snark.
And bears. Lots and lots of bears.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 11-04-2024
A slow burn to a satisfying conclusion
A great listen, if a little slow to find it's rhythm, but once it does the last seven hours slide by in the blink of an eye.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 11-10-2024
Compelling stories of Bears, Taxes and People
I just finished reading this book and I feel profoundly moved by the many stories of the people of Grafton. This book has the most amusing title I've ever seen, but under the surface lie deep stories of human nature and of the people that embody it. Oh, and bears, of course.
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