I really enjoyed these poems! Im newer to poetry and trying to figure out how to properly read and discern different types, so I can’t give specific feedback just yet. However, I do plan to hold onto this one and re-visit in the future. The words were beautiful. Easy to ready without feeling too confused, lost or disengaged.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this Arc. This book was a great glimpse into different opinions and views on the democratic system and how expanding conversation with people who may not agree with your own political beliefs is not always a bad thing. I enjoyed this book and felt like it gave me a better understanding of different things within government.

This was an interesting story with a quirky cast of characters from historical times to modern. In 2004, the town of Grafton, New Hampshire, was chosen (without the current residents' consent) to become a libertarian model society with minimal government, but like all utopian attempts, there were unintended consequences that, in this case, frequently involved bears. The "free town" people who overran the unsuspecting Graftonites rejected government standards and the services that taxes fund, upending the food and waste management systems and attracting bears. Some even chose to feed the bears, training them to see every home as a food source, with predictably terrible results. The book feels especially timely now that a large portion of the population is choosing to reject advice, science, logic, and reality. I hope Grafton is faring better nowadays.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

This book is awesome! I loved the concept of the book, but once I started reading it, I fell in love even more. The writing is so well crafted and so funny. It was like no other book that I have read. I loved it!

This book is the perfect distillation of the immaturity and irresponsibility of libertarians, while also keeping me chuckling. Remarkable and eye-opening writing!

Even after finishing The Earth Hearing, there are still many theories revolving around my mind. There are so many reasons to enjoy this book, but it will take time to finish once a reader picks it up. The premise starts off well enough with clear-cut sci-fi elements mixed in.

However, the reader is in for quite the ride in the later 2/3 of the story where the author has characters analyze various sides of a multitude of controversial arguments. I believe most of the controversies are based in Western thinking, but I may just possess that bias in thinking. Take the book a chapter at a time and this will be an interesting reading experience.

Not bad, although somewhat predictable. I enjoyed many of the insights and think it could be helpful to dip into this book for anyone who wants a slightly different perspective.

Take a reporter, a small town in western New Hampshire (Grafton), a libertarian utopian project (Free Town Project circa 2004-2019), mix in brooding forests, plenty of bears, and a whole mess of folks, and you have this book. It is a tale of free wheeling, radical idealism run amuck in rural New Hampshire where oddly enough, similar concepts seemed to be part of its history. So set back, grab a doughnut or two, plenty of beverages and dive into this world of bears, bears, and strange folk.

Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling breaks the story into three books (Verge of the Wild; Rugged Growth; and Boundless Ruins) with multiple chapters in each book. He has an interesting cast of characters telling bits of the story what with a logical libertarian, a very strange pastor, a bear fighting firefighter, a former Moonie, plus assorted other libertarians and townsfolk. Not to mention the bureaucracy of bears out in the woods eating doughnuts, stray cats and dogs, plus the occasional chicken. The story winds between the present and the past in the same manner that the roads of Grafton manage between clearing and forest.

A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear is the tale of a utopia gone awry as they so often do in the Northeast and the rest of America. Grand plans are all too often crushed when reality refuses to bend to wishful thinking. And even true believers will succumb to guilty pleasures such as paved roads, decent schools funded by local taxes, and bear patrols. But if you are interested in reading about libertarianism in the wild and the muck-up that ensues, be sure to pick up this title and enjoy yourself!

Something this dire - a town of people so opposed to paying taxes that they become a country-wide hotspot for bear attacks - should not be this funny. Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling carefully walks the line between Bill Bryson and a VICE documentarian while spinning this wild story of a Free Town and the beasts- man and animal alike, within. This collection of people, carefully and deliberately documented by Hongoltz-Hetling, shoot themselves in the foot so many times and with such ferocity that it is amazing the whole town of Grafton isn't just a smoking hole in the ground.

I know Grafton, as I know New Hampshire; I have been an accidental resident of the Granite State for the last 14 years. I went to school down in Cheshire county and stayed; I've lived and worked allover the place, from down on the MA border to way out in the Great North Woods. I got married here, I have a home here, and my career is here- none of which was really planned. I happened to be here, so I continued to follow opportunities further and further away from my Tri-State Area upbringing. When I lived nearer to Grafton, not long from when this account takes place, I used to drive that stretch of Route 4 on the regular; the dilapidated sign for The Ruggles Mine is still stamped in my brain.

Grafton is a lot like many other small rural towns in the North East; boarded up stores, countless "for sale" signs, handmade "private property" posts, ramshackle buildings, dead cars, and people working in their yards with firearms strapped to their hip. People who want to give you, as Hongoltz-Hetling experienced many times, "friendly advice" while flashing a threatening smile and the butt of their gun.

New Hampshire is full of towns that flourished pre-Civil War; Grafton itself housed kilns, mills, and farms that all dried up as people and industry moved west. Many of these towns left old stone walls, schoolhouses, and maybe a church dotting the rapidly reforesting landscape, but Grafton had something else: lots of bears, and a town worth of Libertarians!

Hongoltz-Hetling paints a bizarre and often hilarious picture of a small town besieged by both bears and Libertarians. He uses bits of historical anecdote and research to illustrate the terrible destiny of Grafton; even pre-America folks out in those woods would do anything to avoid paying taxes- and would get continuously mauled by bears! The area has long been a magnet for self-styled free thinkers, and this account holds our hand and introduces us to the thinkers, movers, and shakers of the Free Town experiment. In the early 2000s, a handful of Libertarians from allover the country rolled in to town and began to dismantle the already sparse infrastructure of the town, focusing on the freedom to protect one's own property and not much else. 

Things went, as I am sure you can imagine, off the rails in a stunning way. I took copious notes while reading this book, as it is full with baffling story after baffling story. I laughed a lot, and gasped out loud in shock in equal measure. I had quotes on quotes saved up to share here, but no- you have to read this for yourself. You have to let Hongoltz-Hetling guide you through this mire of anti-government invaders, old-home townsfolk, and the bears that terrorize and delight them all. 

A few words of warning; since we are talking rural New England and bears, we are definitely talking about graphic situations. There is mauling, poaching, and the eating of pets aplenty. All of these instances are documented with care, but they are gruesome none the less. There are also descriptions of ideas held by people both within and outside of the Libertarian party that are pretty extreme; Hongoltz-Hetling handles them with grace and refrains from veering into the salacious, which is a difficult feat considering the actions and ideas of said people! 

This is required reading for anyone with a spark of curiosity; I have a list of people in mind that need to read this book, and it will be going out to many for the upcoming holiday. Now is the best time to read a book from the safety and comfort of home- why not read a book full of humor, horror, and top-notch reporting? 

*I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is what happens when A Libertarian Walks into a Bear.

Grafton, New Hampshire, has always been famous for its bears. The bears snatch food, chickens, cats, and even children occasionally from the townsfolk. When a group of Libertarians decide to make a model town with minimal government right there in Grafton, no one takes the bears into account. This action leads to a bear apocalypse.

Wow, this book is definitely not doing the New Hampshire tourist board any favors! I have only seen bears in zoos—usually as I’m walking to the more marquee animals like the giraffes and elephants. I live in a literal desert. I really have no interest in bears at all. After the Trump administration, Libertarians look almost quaint by comparison. So, unfortunately, A Libertarian Walks into a Bear did not hold my attention. However, I’m sure other people will like it more than I did because it is well-written. 3 stars.

Thanks to PublicAffairs and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

***I was granted ARC of this via Netgalley from the publisher.***

Politics can create some very interesting scenarios. In the book, A Libertarian Walks into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears) by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling looks at one particular scenario. The author takes us through the transformation of Grafton, New Hampshire in Freetown, a town that followed libertarian values by lowering taxes and embracing liberty. However, this came with a cost. A loss of public services, an increase in crime, and a growing bear problem. Throughout the story, we meet a number of people in the town and get an interesting look at people who live there and the struggles of their libertarian experience. You get a real feel of what life was like and what the people were trying to accomplish there. The author introduces a theory of a parasite from being in close proximity to the bears being the cause of some of the behavior in the town which was interesting but his tale of the impact of low taxes and individualism taken to the extreme is what makes this a good book to read.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars. Would recommend to a friend.

How much would you pay right now to laugh out loud, and laugh hard, about something that has nothing whatsoever to do with current events? Exactly. My thanks go to Net Galley and Perseus Books for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

The author is a journalist who caught wind of a tiny hamlet in New Hampshire that was taken over by libertarians:

“The four libertarians who came to New Hampshire had thinner wallets than…other would-be utopians, but they had a new angle they believed would help them move the Free Town Project out of the realm of marijuana-hazed reveries and into reality. Instead of building from scratch, they would harness the power and infrastructure of an existing town—just as a rabies parasite can co-opt the brain of a much larger organism and force it work against its own interests, the libertarians planned to apply just a bit of pressure in such a way that an entire town could be steered toward liberty.”

By the time the long-term denizens of Grafton realized the extent of the mayhem that these people intended, they discovered that “the libertarians were operating under vampire rules—the invitation to enter, once offered, could not be rescinded…At the same time the Free Towners set themselves to shaping the community to their liking, the town’s bears were working to create their own utopia.”

The newcomers’ idea of liberty meant no enforcement of any law, and no taxes, even for basic infrastructure and services. And when the local bear population blossomed, it was every Free Towner for herself.

Hongoltz-Hetling provides a succinct history of the town, then introduces a handful of the key players. There’s a man that buys and lives in a church in order to avoid paying taxes; an Earth Mother type that decides the bears are hungry and should receive free donuts, seeds, and grains daily in her own backyard; several tent dwellers that eschew basic hygiene and food safety; and oh, so many, many bears. Some of the townspeople are identified by name, but those that prefer anonymity are identified by colorful nicknames.

At the outset we see jaw-dropping levels of eccentricity coupled with hilarious anecdotes, and true to his journalistic calling, the author spends a good deal of time in this tiny, lawless burg, and so he reports events not second hand, but from his own experience. My favorite part is the showdown between Hurricane the Guard Llama and an ursine interloper looking for mutton on the hoof. Another is the conflict between “Beretta,” the resident next door to “Doughnut Lady,” who hates all bears primarily because they are fat.

Eventually things take a darker, more tragic turn for some; the most impressive aspect of this story is the seamless manner in which the author segues from the hilarious to the heartbreaking, and then brings us back up for air.

Ultimately, the bears are emblematic of the need human beings have for cooperation and organization.
Though the material used for this story is rich and original, it takes a gifted wordsmith like Hongoltz-Hetling to craft it into a darkly amusing tale of this caliber. If I were to change one thing, I would lose the digression near the middle of the book with regard to typhus, Tunisia, and diseases shared by bears. It slows the pace and could easily be whittled down to a single paragraph. But the rest of this book is so engaging that I cannot reduce my rating by even half a star. My advice is to skim that passage, which eats up about five percent of an otherwise perfectly executed narrative, unless of course you like that aspect of it.

In six years of reviewing, and out of the 666 reviews I have provided to Net Galley—and yes, that’s the actual number, until I turn this review in—I have purchased fewer than one percent of the books I’ve read, either to give as gifts, or to keep. That said, this book is going under my Christmas tree this December. If you read it, you’re bound to agree: the story of Grafton is the best surprise of 2020.

Do it.

I grew up in Harrisville, New Hampshire -- a tiny town located just east of Keene. From what I can remember from my childhood, there wasn't a lot to do in Harrisville. I do remember there were a lot of dirt roads, fields, and moose. Today the population of Harrisville is still under 1000 people, and there is only one school -- an elementary school servicing grades K-6.

So reading Hongoltz-Hetling's book about a similarly small town a bit farther north felt familiar. I recently visited a college friend whose family lives on top of a giant hill in Grafton. On my way up the winding, pot-holed filled path shrouded by looming trees, it was like entering another world as my phone slowly lost service connecting me to my GPS. Even at her house the wi-fi signal was nearly non-existent.

There are many towns like this, I'm sure, across America, but what Hongoltz-Hetling captures in his book is the strange sense that living in New Hampshire, emboldened by the "Live Free or Die" motto, guarantees that ones rights to complete and total freedom are sacred. Let's just clarify that the motto was not established until the 1940s (well before H-H tells of Grafton residents' persistent demands to have freedom at all cost), AND it almost didn't become the state motto at all (other options included ““Strong as Our Hills and Firm as Our Granite” and “Pioneers Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow”). Not to mention that living free and not dying is not exactly new. I think the French Revolution would have some words to exchange with New Hampshirites in the 1940s about their originality. Even today some people in New Hampshire think that they have inalienable rights protecting whatever they choose to believe -- toting guns, wearing seat belts, donning face masks.

Hongoltz-Hetling takes the reader through the history of Grafton and its freedom-seeking ways to illustrate how it was the perfect hub for this libertarian movement. From the establishment of the town, Graftonites denied law protecting Native lands, defied orders from England, and refused to pay taxes. So when local officials realized the human population had a bear problem, they couldn't exactly force people to take care of it. What about their rights?! Instead, officials found ways to incentivize the slaughter of bears, disguising the policy they needed in capitalistic gain.

Interwoven between the history of the town are chapters that focus on different Graftonites in recent years (mostly tax evaders and people who have had run ins with bears) and the team of men who brought the social experiment "Free Town" to Grafton. Free Town was the (mostly) unsuccessful attempt to grow the Libertarian party, who belief in individual rights over all. Hongoltz-Hetling illustrates how the gun-toting, bear-killing, tax-evading people of the Revolution are not that different than the gun-toting, bear-killing, tax-evading people of modern Grafton.

I did struggle with the structure of this book because I needed to make a lot of connections myself. I found myself wondering why certain stories were being told, and often times it felt as if H-H was including them to fill space or because they were marginally connected to the main narrative. Each chapter started with a literary epithet that I thought didn't add much to the overall text.

This book has something for every nonfiction reader -- politics, sociology, history, animals.
You'll find yourself laughing. A lot, which surprised me for a book such as this. The portrait of characters (especially Doughnut Lady and her epic llama, Hurricane) add to the deftly humorous prose. While I think this is beyond the level of my students, I can see a few of my students enjoying this odd little text.

Quirky characters. Furry animals. A woodsy backdrop. A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear would have all the making of a fictional bestseller if it wasn’t all true … and just plain bizarre. Journalist Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling explores the fascinating story of the Free Town Project, a political experiment hatched by a group of libertarians with the idea of taking over a town and installing a system of self-government. In 2004, with some support from residents, they came for Grafton, New Hampshire with a simple formula: lower taxes and less overreach would surely equal more freedom. Like many political groups, there were multiple factions of belief. But in general terms: don’t want to wear a seat belt while driving? Don’t. Want to hunt without a permit? Fine. Wanna traffic organs? Knock yourself out.

They just didn’t count on all the bears.

New Hampshire’s bear history is as rich as its political history, though, and Hongoltz-Hetling has found a way to combine both of these into a compelling narrative. Crafting an ethnography, mixed with political analysis, mixed with journalistic observation can’t be easy, and yet he makes it seem effortless. Maybe it’s because his writing is light and welcoming, with a keen understanding of how to respectfully explain the people and situations he’s discussing. Maybe it’s because he’s wickedly funny, mining every absurd moment with a wink and nudge. Or maybe he just tapped into a story that’s that good. Probably all three.

Hongoltz-Hetling often spirals into various tangents. One second, he’s exploring how a man bought a local church and installed himself as pastor in order to stop paying taxes. The next, he’s off considering an unprecedented bear attack that resulted in a severe hand injury for one woman. At first glance, this bouncing style almost reads as chaotic. And yet, everything does somehow feel connected. While Grafton slid into tumult marred by no money and even fewer rules, a similar shift was occurring in the wilderness. Though stemming more from coincidence than solely political actions, both town and country were changing from a lack of control.

Fascinating, funny, and as wild as a hungry bear spotting a doughnut, A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear offers up a unique look at what happens when ideology and nature collide.

A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
Posted on September 15, 2020 by Kevin Holtsberry / 0 Comment
I have some strong libertarian leanings, mostly on economics and size/scope of government stuff, and am a big fan of localism so I Was intrigued when I saw A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears) by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling on NetGalley.

I mean, it sounds like a pretty interesting story, right?

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.

It turned out to be another book I would give 3.5 stars. The kind of book that makes you pause of a moment when you are reviewing it on Goodreads. You know, did you “enjoy it” or “really enjoy it?” I was somewhere in between I guess.

A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear is a somewhat rambling portrait of small town New Hampshire through the lens of a group of libertarians seeking very limited government/interference and the habits of bears. In the style of narrative nonfiction, the author seeks to give the reader the feel of the people and communities while offering insight through history, science and even literature. It doesn’t take sides per se and offers a rather balanced perspective; letting the people and events speak for themselves for the most part. Although, he clearly prefers the bears…

Perhaps, this just reinforced my own perspective but I was struck how useful libertarian thought is at the federal level and how unhelpful it is the lower you move down. Local communities need infrastructure and services to be livable. Few people actually enjoy living with few rules and very little support. But, as Hongoltz-Hetling admits, that could be driven not by the structure of government but by the people involved and the choices they make.

The other theme that runs throughout the book is the question of what you would do if you were faced with the specter of interaction with bears. Would you feed them? Shoot them? Ignore them? If you were in charge of managing bears what approach would you recommend? There are few easy answers as nature seeks to reclaim what was lost and adapts to humans.

It is well written and full of interesting characters but I think there was just too much going on. You have the libertarian and bear threads but then you have multiple sub threads. The history of tax revolts in New England, literary quotes about bears, a thread about churches, a thread about virus, etc. A much tighter narrative would have made the story better.

FTW, I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I had read it in a couple of days instead of spread out over weeks. I was juggling a handful of review copies and this kept getting pushed to the back because of the publication date. So make of that what you will.

3.5 Stars

Reviews on blog, Goodreads, twitter, facebook, will be placed on Amazon on Sept. 15th

Book: A Libertarian Walks Into A Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (and Some Bears)

Author: Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling

Release date (if applicable): 09/15/2020

Synopsis: Grafton, NH becomes a truly run Libertarian city. This story shows the impact both positive and negative to a city run as a "free state" where its citizens basically do, pay and act as they feel.

My rating: 3.5 Stars

My opinion: I enjoyed this read. Quirky characters, bears and a will to live in a "free state" and the lasting consequences made this a really unique read. The writing was inviting and fun.

Source: Netgalley for Publisher

Would I recommend? Yes. Overall, I felt this was a cute read. Beware of the underlying bias, but read for the unique story. If you are a political junkie or enjoyed non-formulaic books, be sure to check this one out.

Stand Alone or Part of a Series: Stand Alone

At turns hilarious, edifying, and sobering, A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear is an illuminating and entertaining look at the political and socioeconomic divides that score this nation. While the author’s writing style wasn’t for me, his ability to truly empathize with an explain his research subjects lent a warmth and familiarity to his work that made me feel truly invested in these characters and place. This book is a light-hearted and witty romp through life in rural New Hampshire and libertarianism all in one.

This book has no right to be as fun as it is. Hongoltz-Hetling's skeptical yet compassionate eye takes the measure of this small town full of individualistic yet ineffective Randians and the bears who surround them and delivers an incredibly engaging tale that borders on the fantastical. I will be very surprised if there is not a Netflix series or documentary after this book. Even if you think the subject - an attempted libertarian utopia and bears - doesn't sound interesting to you, I urge you to give it a shot. That said, if you ARE libertarian, you may find the book a bit squirmy.

This book is a great read. I wasn't sure where it was going to take me but I enjoyed the ride. I love New England and I loved learning about Grafton. I would recommend this book to fans of non-fiction, especially current events, politics and humor. Thanks to Netgallery for an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased and honest review.

Not sure what I can add to the description on the book. It definitely gives you an upfront view of what our country would look like if libertarians had their way. The ineptitude of government when it comes to the management of our public lands and wildlife, sadly, is also highlighted. I like that the author kept his tongue in cheek humor evident throughout the book. I couldn’t help but think he was shaking his head and laughing inwardly the whole time he was in Grafton.