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 PublicAffairsListeners also enjoyed...
Critic 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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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Dominika Komender
- 29-01-23
Not what I expected at all
Expected more political / social analysis, less pet carnage.
I'm sure it's a very good and valuable read if you know what you're getting into and don't have certain issues.
This is a very personal opinion of one neurodivergent and oversensitive person, but I couldn't finish it, it was too upsetting and the depicted case just wasn't worth getting through that for me, nor was the actual writing - which is good, just not so brilliant that it would warrant biting the bullet for. Some kind of warning probably wouldn't hurt.
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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
- Amazon Customer
- 23-10-20
Rich, funny and incredibly human
This is a story brought to life through pitch-perfect descriptions of the people in the community. Brilliant non-fiction, enjoyably narrated. Would strongly recommend to anyone with even a passing interest in politics, conservation, or internet communities.
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5 people found this helpful