-
A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear
- The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (and Some Bears)
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $21.83
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
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.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Libertarian Mind
- A Manifesto for Freedom
- By: David Boaz
- Narrated by: Scott Feighner
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Libertarianism: A Primer, by David Boaz, the longtime executive vice president of the Cato Institute, continues to be the best available guide to the history, ideas, and growth of this increasingly important political movement - and now it has been updated throughout and with a new title: The Libertarian Mind. Boaz has updated the book with new information on the threat of government surveillance; the policies that led up to and stemmed from the 2008 financial crisis; corruption in Washington; and the unsustainable welfare state.
-
-
Excellent all around
- By C. Booth on 09-18-17
By: David Boaz
-
Jewish Space Lasers
- The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories
- By: Mike Rothschild
- Narrated by: Jon Vertullo
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2018 Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene took to social media to share her suspicions that the California wildfires were started by 'space solar generators' which were funded by powerful, mysterious backers. Instantly, thousands of people rallied around her, blaming the fires on "Jewish space lasers" and, ultimately, the Rothschild family. For more than 200 years, the name "Rothschild" has been synonymous with two things: great wealth, and conspiracy theories about what they're "really doing" with it.
-
-
A delightful read that gives critical insight
- By Tyler V on 09-27-23
By: Mike Rothschild
-
If It Sounds Like a Quack...
- A Journey to the Fringes of American Medicine
- By: Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's no secret that American health care has become too costly and politicized to help everyone. So where do you turn if you can't afford doctors, or don't trust them? In this book, Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling examines the growing universe of non-traditional treatments—including some that are really non-traditional. With costs skyrocketing and anti-science sentiment spreading, the so-called "medical freedom" movement has grown. Now it faces its greatest challenge: going mainstream.
-
-
WOW! A Must Read!
- By Christine on 09-14-23
-
Democracy Awakening
- Notes on the State of America
- By: Heather Cox Richardson
- Narrated by: Heather Cox Richardson
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At a time when the very foundations of American democracy seem under threat, the lessons of the past offer a road map for navigating a moment of political crisis. In Democracy Awakening, acclaimed historian Heather Cox Richardson delves into the tumultuous journey of American democracy, tracing the roots of Donald Trump’s “authoritarian experiment” to the earliest days of the republic.
-
-
We’d be in a much better position if everyone read this
- By Jeffrey Schwartz on 10-01-23
-
Trust the Plan
- The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America
- By: Will Sommer
- Narrated by: Joe Knezevich
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The definitive book on QAnon from the reporter knows them best; Will Sommer explains what it is, how it has gained a mainstream following among Republican lawmakers and ordinary citizens, the threat it poses to democracy, and how we can reach those who have embraced the conspiracy and are disseminating its lies.
-
-
The best one so far
- By joey carbo on 03-02-23
By: Will Sommer
-
Doppelganger
- A Trip into the Mirror World
- By: Naomi Klein
- Narrated by: Naomi Klein
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What if you woke up one morning and found you’d acquired another self—a double who was almost you and yet not you at all? What if that double shared many of your preoccupations but, in a twisted, upside-down way, furthered the very causes you’d devoted your life to fighting against? Not long ago, the celebrated activist and public intellectual Naomi Klein had just such an experience—she was confronted with a doppelganger whose views she found abhorrent but whose name and public persona were sufficiently similar to her own that many people got confused about who was who.
-
-
Elite Psychobabble
- By A Reviewer on 09-30-23
By: Naomi Klein
-
The Libertarian Mind
- A Manifesto for Freedom
- By: David Boaz
- Narrated by: Scott Feighner
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Libertarianism: A Primer, by David Boaz, the longtime executive vice president of the Cato Institute, continues to be the best available guide to the history, ideas, and growth of this increasingly important political movement - and now it has been updated throughout and with a new title: The Libertarian Mind. Boaz has updated the book with new information on the threat of government surveillance; the policies that led up to and stemmed from the 2008 financial crisis; corruption in Washington; and the unsustainable welfare state.
-
-
Excellent all around
- By C. Booth on 09-18-17
By: David Boaz
-
Jewish Space Lasers
- The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories
- By: Mike Rothschild
- Narrated by: Jon Vertullo
- Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2018 Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene took to social media to share her suspicions that the California wildfires were started by 'space solar generators' which were funded by powerful, mysterious backers. Instantly, thousands of people rallied around her, blaming the fires on "Jewish space lasers" and, ultimately, the Rothschild family. For more than 200 years, the name "Rothschild" has been synonymous with two things: great wealth, and conspiracy theories about what they're "really doing" with it.
-
-
A delightful read that gives critical insight
- By Tyler V on 09-27-23
By: Mike Rothschild
-
If It Sounds Like a Quack...
- A Journey to the Fringes of American Medicine
- By: Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's no secret that American health care has become too costly and politicized to help everyone. So where do you turn if you can't afford doctors, or don't trust them? In this book, Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling examines the growing universe of non-traditional treatments—including some that are really non-traditional. With costs skyrocketing and anti-science sentiment spreading, the so-called "medical freedom" movement has grown. Now it faces its greatest challenge: going mainstream.
-
-
WOW! A Must Read!
- By Christine on 09-14-23
-
Democracy Awakening
- Notes on the State of America
- By: Heather Cox Richardson
- Narrated by: Heather Cox Richardson
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At a time when the very foundations of American democracy seem under threat, the lessons of the past offer a road map for navigating a moment of political crisis. In Democracy Awakening, acclaimed historian Heather Cox Richardson delves into the tumultuous journey of American democracy, tracing the roots of Donald Trump’s “authoritarian experiment” to the earliest days of the republic.
-
-
We’d be in a much better position if everyone read this
- By Jeffrey Schwartz on 10-01-23
-
Trust the Plan
- The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America
- By: Will Sommer
- Narrated by: Joe Knezevich
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The definitive book on QAnon from the reporter knows them best; Will Sommer explains what it is, how it has gained a mainstream following among Republican lawmakers and ordinary citizens, the threat it poses to democracy, and how we can reach those who have embraced the conspiracy and are disseminating its lies.
-
-
The best one so far
- By joey carbo on 03-02-23
By: Will Sommer
-
Doppelganger
- A Trip into the Mirror World
- By: Naomi Klein
- Narrated by: Naomi Klein
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What if you woke up one morning and found you’d acquired another self—a double who was almost you and yet not you at all? What if that double shared many of your preoccupations but, in a twisted, upside-down way, furthered the very causes you’d devoted your life to fighting against? Not long ago, the celebrated activist and public intellectual Naomi Klein had just such an experience—she was confronted with a doppelganger whose views she found abhorrent but whose name and public persona were sufficiently similar to her own that many people got confused about who was who.
-
-
Elite Psychobabble
- By A Reviewer on 09-30-23
By: Naomi Klein
-
The Undertow
- Scenes from a Slow Civil War
- By: Jeff Sharlet
- Narrated by: Jeff Sharlet
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An unmatched guide to the religious dimensions of American politics, Jeff Sharlet journeys into corners of our national psyche where others fear to tread. The Undertow is both inquiry and meditation, an attempt to understand how, over the last decade, reaction has morphed into delusion, social division into distrust, distrust into paranoia, and hatred into fantasies—sometimes realities—of violence.
-
-
I'm just not feeling this one....
- By J. Richmond on 08-04-23
By: Jeff Sharlet
-
The Big Break
- The Gamblers, Party Animals, and True Believers Trying to Win in Washington While America Loses Its Mind
- By: Ben Terris
- Narrated by: Tim Andrés Pabon
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Big Break investigates how Washington works, and how different kinds of people try to make it work for them. Ben Terris presents an inside history of this crucial moment in Washington, reporting from exclusive parties, poker nights, fundraisers, secluded farms outside town and the halls of Congress; among the oddballs and opportunists and true believers. This book is about the people who see this moment as an opportunity to bet big—on their country or maybe just on themselves.
-
-
A sad expose
- By HENRY D. MALANOWSKI on 08-16-23
By: Ben Terris
-
It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism
- By: Senator Bernie Sanders, John Nichols
- Narrated by: Senator Bernie Sanders
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s OK to be angry about capitalism. Reflecting on our turbulent times, Senator Bernie Sanders takes on the billionaire class and speaks blunt truths about our country’s failure to address the destructive nature of a system that is fueled by uncontrolled greed and rigidly committed to prioritizing corporate profits over the needs of ordinary Americans.
-
-
A true and unbiased understanding of politics today
- By Sassy monster on 02-21-23
By: Senator Bernie Sanders, and others
-
The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution
- By: Francis Fukuyama
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 22 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Virtually all human societies were once organized tribally, yet over time most developed new political institutions which included a central state that could keep the peace and uniform laws that applied to all citizens. Some went on to create governments that were accountable to their constituents. We take these institutions for granted, but they are absent or are unable to perform in many of today’s developing countries—with often disastrous consequences for the rest of the world.
-
-
Few forests, but lots of trees
- By Steve Pagano on 10-05-15
By: Francis Fukuyama
-
Conspirituality
- How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat
- By: Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, Julian Walker
- Narrated by: Matthew Remski
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a disturbing social media trend emerged: a large number of yoga instructors and alt-health influencers were posting stories about a secretive global cabal bent on controlling the world’s population with a genocidal vaccine. Instagram feeds that had been serving up green smoothie recipes and Mary Oliver poems became firehoses of Fox News links, memes from 4chan, and prophecies of global transformation.
-
-
Thorough and thoughtful
- By Lindsay Robinson on 11-16-23
By: Derek Beres, and others
-
If We Burn
- The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution
- By: Vincent Bevins
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From 2010 to 2020, more people participated in protests than at any other point in human history. Yet we are not living in more just and democratic societies as a result. IF WE BURN is a stirring work of history built around a single, vital question: How did so many mass protests lead to the opposite of what they asked for?
-
-
The final word on horizontalism on the left
- By Patrick Foote on 02-25-24
By: Vincent Bevins
-
Myth America
- Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past
- By: Kevin M. Kruse, Julian E. Zelizer
- Narrated by: Allan Aquino, Maleah Woodley, Todd Menesses, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The United States is in the grip of a crisis of bad history. Distortions of the past promoted in the conservative media have led large numbers of Americans to believe in fictions over facts, making constructive dialogue impossible and imperiling our democracy. In Myth America, Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer have assembled an all-star team of fellow historians to push back against this misinformation.
-
-
Right Wing Bashing book!! Aka a History Book
- By amy on 02-08-23
By: Kevin M. Kruse, and others
-
A Conflict of Visions
- Ideological Origins of Political Struggles
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Michael Edwards
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this book, which the author calls a "culmination of 30 years of work in the history of ideas", Sowell attempts to explain the ideological difference between liberals and conservatives as a disagreement over the moral potential inherent in nature. Those who see that potential as limited prefer to constrain governmental authority, he argues. They feel that reform is difficult and often dangerous, and put their faith in family, custom, law, and traditional institutions.
-
-
Critical read for 2008 change election
- By Elaine C Grimes on 06-05-08
By: Thomas Sowell
-
Fear and Loathing
- On the Campaign Trail '72
- By: Hunter S. Thompson
- Narrated by: Scott Sowers
- Length: 17 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An iconic and controversial figure in American literature, Hunter S. Thompson displayed a brilliance that forever changed journalism. Thompson’s follow-up to The Proud Highway, this second volume of private, never-before-published letters spans the years 1968 through 1976. Addressed to such luminaries as Tom Wolfe, Kurt Vonnegut, and Jimmy Carter, this incisive collection showcases Thompson’s raw and starkly honest thoughts on a pivotal era in U.S. history.
-
-
Love the book, not the performance.
- By Reno on 07-29-13
-
Where the Deer and the Antelope Play
- The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Loves to Walk Outside
- By: Nick Offerman
- Narrated by: Nick Offerman
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A humorous and rousing set of literal and figurative sojourns as well as a mission statement about comprehending, protecting, and truly experiencing the outdoors, fueled by three journeys undertaken by actor, humorist, and New York Times best-selling author Nick Offerman
-
-
By far his worst work to date.
- By Aron on 10-21-21
By: Nick Offerman
-
Against the Web
- A Cosmopolitan Answer to the New Right
- By: Michael Brooks
- Narrated by: Sam Seder
- Length: 2 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As the host of The Michael Brooks Show and cohost of the Majority Report, Brooks was a progressive fighter whose work brought people together from around the world. In this, his first book, he lets his understanding of the digital media environment direct his analysis of the "conservative rebels" who had taken YouTube by storm in 2018. Brooks provides a theoretically rigorous but accessible critique of the most prominent "renegades," including Sam Harris, Jordan Peterson, and Brett Weinstein while also examining the social, political, and media environment that such rebels thrive in.
-
-
REST IN POWER MICHAEL BROOKS
- By illiterate/left-handed/Aries on 06-13-23
By: Michael Brooks
-
Evicted
- Poverty and Profit in the American City
- By: Matthew Desmond
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Evicted, Princeton sociologist and MacArthur “Genius” Matthew Desmond follows eight families in Milwaukee as they each struggle to keep a roof over their heads. Hailed as “wrenching and revelatory” (The Nation), “vivid and unsettling” (New York Review of Books), Evicted transforms our understanding of poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving one of twenty-first-century America’s most devastating problems. Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible.
-
-
Former Property Manager
- By Charla on 05-18-16
By: Matthew Desmond
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
Related to this topic
-
The Quiet Zone
- Unraveling the Mystery of a Town Suspended in Silence
- By: Stephen Kurczy
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this riveting account of an area of Appalachia known as the Quiet Zone where cell phones and Wi-Fi are banned, journalist Stephen Kurczy explores the pervasive role of technology in our lives and the innate human need for quiet.
-
-
Pretty good, but a niche interest
- By Dan on 02-16-23
By: Stephen Kurczy
-
Methland
- The Death and Life of an American Small Town
- By: Nick Reding
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Crystal methamphetamine is widely considered to be the most dangerous drug in the world, and nowhere is that more true than in the small towns of the American heartland. Methland tells the story of Oelwein, Iowa (pop. 6,159), which, like thousands of other small towns across the country, has been left in the dust by the consolidation of the agricultural industry, a depressed local economy, and an out-migration of people.
-
-
Beautifully written, but insubstantial
- By Flavius Krakdaddius on 02-10-10
By: Nick Reding
-
Fire in Paradise
- By: Alastair Gee, Dani Anguiano
- Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There is no precedent in postwar American history for the destruction of the town of Paradise, California. On November 8, 2018, the community of 27,000 people was swallowed by the ferocious Camp Fire, which razed virtually every home and killed at least 85 people. Fire in Paradise is a dramatic and moving narrative of the disaster based on hundreds of in-depth interviews with residents, firefighters and police, and scientific experts.
-
-
A gripping view of an American tragedy
- By Kalutha on 06-30-20
By: Alastair Gee, and others
-
West of the West
- Dreamers, Believers, Builders, and Killers in the Golden State
- By: Mark Arax
- Narrated by: Mark Arax
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Teddy Roosevelt once exclaimed, "When I am in California, I am not in the West. I am west of the West", and in this book, Mark Arax spends four years travelling up and down the Golden State to explore its singular place in the world. This is California beyond the clichés. This is California as only a native son, deep in the dust, could draw it.
By: Mark Arax
-
Humboldt
- Life on America's Marijuana Frontier
- By: Emily Brady
- Narrated by: Dan Woren, Sonny Warner, Erin Bennett, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the vein of Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief and Deborah Feldman's Unorthodox, journalist Emily Brady journeys into a secretive subculture - one that marijuana built. Say the words "Humboldt County" to a stranger and you might receive a knowing grin. The name is infamous, and yet the place, and its inhabitants, have been nearly impenetrable. Until now. Humboldt is a narrative exploration of an insular community in Northern California, which for nearly 40 years has existed primarily on the cultivation and sale of marijuana.
-
-
Great book!
- By David on 02-26-15
By: Emily Brady
-
Engineering Eden
- The True Story of a Violent Death, a Trial, and the Fight over Controlling Nature
- By: Jordan Fisher Smith
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When 25-year-old Harry Walker was killed by a bear in Yellowstone Park in 1972, the civil trial prompted by his death became a proxy for bigger questions about American wilderness management that had been boiling for a century. At immediate issue was whether the Park Service should have done more to keep bears away from humans, but what was revealed as the trial unfolded was just how fruitless our efforts to regulate nature in the parks had always been.
-
-
Riveting true story, well performed
- By Kerry Cox on 04-07-20
-
The Quiet Zone
- Unraveling the Mystery of a Town Suspended in Silence
- By: Stephen Kurczy
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this riveting account of an area of Appalachia known as the Quiet Zone where cell phones and Wi-Fi are banned, journalist Stephen Kurczy explores the pervasive role of technology in our lives and the innate human need for quiet.
-
-
Pretty good, but a niche interest
- By Dan on 02-16-23
By: Stephen Kurczy
-
Methland
- The Death and Life of an American Small Town
- By: Nick Reding
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Crystal methamphetamine is widely considered to be the most dangerous drug in the world, and nowhere is that more true than in the small towns of the American heartland. Methland tells the story of Oelwein, Iowa (pop. 6,159), which, like thousands of other small towns across the country, has been left in the dust by the consolidation of the agricultural industry, a depressed local economy, and an out-migration of people.
-
-
Beautifully written, but insubstantial
- By Flavius Krakdaddius on 02-10-10
By: Nick Reding
-
Fire in Paradise
- By: Alastair Gee, Dani Anguiano
- Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There is no precedent in postwar American history for the destruction of the town of Paradise, California. On November 8, 2018, the community of 27,000 people was swallowed by the ferocious Camp Fire, which razed virtually every home and killed at least 85 people. Fire in Paradise is a dramatic and moving narrative of the disaster based on hundreds of in-depth interviews with residents, firefighters and police, and scientific experts.
-
-
A gripping view of an American tragedy
- By Kalutha on 06-30-20
By: Alastair Gee, and others
-
West of the West
- Dreamers, Believers, Builders, and Killers in the Golden State
- By: Mark Arax
- Narrated by: Mark Arax
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Teddy Roosevelt once exclaimed, "When I am in California, I am not in the West. I am west of the West", and in this book, Mark Arax spends four years travelling up and down the Golden State to explore its singular place in the world. This is California beyond the clichés. This is California as only a native son, deep in the dust, could draw it.
By: Mark Arax
-
Humboldt
- Life on America's Marijuana Frontier
- By: Emily Brady
- Narrated by: Dan Woren, Sonny Warner, Erin Bennett, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the vein of Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief and Deborah Feldman's Unorthodox, journalist Emily Brady journeys into a secretive subculture - one that marijuana built. Say the words "Humboldt County" to a stranger and you might receive a knowing grin. The name is infamous, and yet the place, and its inhabitants, have been nearly impenetrable. Until now. Humboldt is a narrative exploration of an insular community in Northern California, which for nearly 40 years has existed primarily on the cultivation and sale of marijuana.
-
-
Great book!
- By David on 02-26-15
By: Emily Brady
-
Engineering Eden
- The True Story of a Violent Death, a Trial, and the Fight over Controlling Nature
- By: Jordan Fisher Smith
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When 25-year-old Harry Walker was killed by a bear in Yellowstone Park in 1972, the civil trial prompted by his death became a proxy for bigger questions about American wilderness management that had been boiling for a century. At immediate issue was whether the Park Service should have done more to keep bears away from humans, but what was revealed as the trial unfolded was just how fruitless our efforts to regulate nature in the parks had always been.
-
-
Riveting true story, well performed
- By Kerry Cox on 04-07-20
-
Believers
- Making a Life at the End of the World
- By: Lisa Wells
- Narrated by: Lisa Wells
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like many of us, Lisa Wells has spent years overwhelmed by news of apocalyptic-scale climate change and a coming sixth extinction. She did not need to be convinced of the stakes. But what can be done? Wells embarked on a pilgrimage, seeking answers in dedicated communities - outcasts and visionaries - on the margins of society.
-
-
I believe
- By Amazon Customer on 08-19-21
By: Lisa Wells
-
Strangers in Their Own Land
- Anger and Mourning on the American Right
- By: Arlie Russell Hochschild
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Strangers in Their Own Land, the renowned sociologist Arlie Hochschild embarks on a thought-provoking journey from her liberal hometown of Berkeley, California, deep into Louisiana bayou country - a stronghold of the conservative right. As she gets to know people who strongly oppose many of the ideas she famously champions, Hochschild nevertheless finds common ground and quickly warms to the people she meets.
-
-
Performance undercuts thesis
- By married, one tall dog, one smelly dog on 01-02-17
-
Rez Life
- An Indian's Journey Through Reservation Life
- By: David Treuer
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Celebrated novelist David Treuer has gained a reputation for writing fiction that expands the horizons of Native American literature. In Rez Life, his first full-length work of nonfiction, Treuer brings a novelist's storytelling skill and an eye for detail to a complex and subtle examination of Native American reservation life, past and present. With authoritative research and reportage, Treuer illuminates misunderstood contemporary issues of sovereignty, treaty rights, and natural-resource conservation.
-
-
Rez Life needs a Rez voice not a Suyapi narrator..
- By Deaxkaash on 09-11-13
By: David Treuer
-
Freedom
- By: Sebastian Junger
- Narrated by: Sebastian Junger
- Length: 3 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Throughout history, humans have been driven by the quest for two cherished ideals: community and freedom. The two don’t coexist easily. We value individuality and self-reliance, yet are utterly dependent on community for our most basic needs. In this intricately crafted and thought-provoking book, Sebastian Junger examines the tension that lies at the heart of what it means to be human.
-
-
Classic Junger.
- By Bernard Lenrow on 05-18-21
By: Sebastian Junger
-
The Longest Road
- Overland in Search of America, from Key West to the Arctic Ocean
- By: Philip Caputo
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Philip Caputo, who had just turned 70, his wife, and their two English setters took off in a truck hauling an Airstream camper from Key West, Florida, en route via back roads and state routes to Deadhorse, Alaska. The journey took four months and covered 17,000 miles, during which Caputo interviewed more than 80 Americans from all walks of life to get a picture of what their lives and the life of the nation are really about in the 21st century.
-
-
Very Disappointing
- By Amazon Customer on 03-25-18
By: Philip Caputo
-
Mitch, Please!
- How Mitch McConnell Sold Out Kentucky (and America Too)
- By: Matt Jones, Chris Tomlin - contributor
- Narrated by: Matt Jones, Chris Tomlin
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They say all politics is local. In 2020, Mitch McConnell will have served five full terms as a US Senator. Thirty years. The Senate Majority leader's power is as undeniable as it is infuriating, and the people of Kentucky have had enough. Led by Matt Jones, they (and they alone) have the power to oust him from office. How did Jones, a local boy turned attorney turned sports radio host come to shine the brightest light on McConnell's ineptitude?
-
-
Amazing
- By Danielle Purcell on 04-10-20
By: Matt Jones, and others
-
Stealing Home
- Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between
- By: Eric Nusbaum
- Narrated by: David Owen Nelson
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dodger Stadium is an American icon. But the story of how it came to be goes far beyond baseball. The hills that cradle the stadium were once home to three vibrant Mexican American communities. In the early 1950s, those communities were condemned to make way for a utopian public housing project. Then, in a remarkable turn, public housing in the city was defeated amidst a Red Scare conspiracy.
-
-
Once Upon a Time at Dodger Stadium
- By James Gamble on 03-06-21
By: Eric Nusbaum
-
In the Land of Good Living
- A Journey to the Heart of Florida
- By: Kent Russell
- Narrated by: Kent Russell
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A wickedly smart, funny, and irresistibly off-kilter account of an improbable thousand-mile journey on foot into the heart of modern Florida, the state that Russell calls "America Concentrate".
-
-
Wanna be writer and other fools
- By E on 08-11-20
By: Kent Russell
-
The Ground Breaking
- An American City and Its Search for Justice
- By: Scott Ellsworth
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the course of less than 24 hours in the spring of 1921, Tulsa’s infamous “Black Wall Street” was wiped off the map - and erased from the history books. Official records were disappeared, researchers were threatened, and the worst single incident of racial violence in American history was kept hidden for more than 50 years. But there were some secrets that would not die. A riveting and essential new book, The Ground Breaking not only tells the long-suppressed story of the notorious Tulsa race massacre.
-
-
Excellent book on the Tulsa Massacre
- By vivabooks on 08-15-21
By: Scott Ellsworth
-
Lasso the Wind
- Away to the New West
- By: Timothy Egan
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Egan leads us on an unconventional, freewheeling tour: from America's oldest continuously inhabited community, the Ancoma Pueblo in New Mexico, to the high kitsch of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where London Bridge has been painstakingly rebuilt stone by stone; from the fragile beauty of Idaho's Bitterroot Range to the gross excess of Las Vegas, a city built as though in defiance of its arid environment.
-
-
Narrator mispronounces everything
- By Catherine on 01-27-22
By: Timothy Egan
-
Wild Escape
- The Prison Break from Dannemora and the Manhunt That Captured America
- By: Chelsia Rose Marcius
- Narrated by: Christopher Price, Lisa Stathoplos
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On June 6, 2015, inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility, New York State's largest maximum security prison. The media was instantly obsessed with the story: aided by a prison seamstress who smuggled hacksaw blades, chisels, and drill bits inside the facility via a vat of raw hamburger meat, the two convicted murderers sliced their way through steel cell walls, meandered through a maze of tunnels, climbed out of a manhole, and walked off into the night.
-
-
Awful
- By VT Lady on 07-23-18
-
Living in the Long Emergency
- Global Crisis, the Failure of the Futurists, and the Early Adapters Who Are Showing Us the Way Forward
- By: James Howard Kunstler
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his 2005 book, The Long Emergency, James Howard Kunstler described the global predicaments that would pitch the USA into political and economic turmoil in the 21st century - the end of affordable oil, climate irregularities, and flagging economic growth, to name a few. Now, he returns with a book that takes an up-close-and-personal approach to how real people are living now - surviving The Long Emergency as it happens.
-
-
Please Read Before Buying
- By K. Skoog on 05-12-20
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Libertarian Mind
- A Manifesto for Freedom
- By: David Boaz
- Narrated by: Scott Feighner
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Libertarianism: A Primer, by David Boaz, the longtime executive vice president of the Cato Institute, continues to be the best available guide to the history, ideas, and growth of this increasingly important political movement - and now it has been updated throughout and with a new title: The Libertarian Mind. Boaz has updated the book with new information on the threat of government surveillance; the policies that led up to and stemmed from the 2008 financial crisis; corruption in Washington; and the unsustainable welfare state.
-
-
Excellent all around
- By C. Booth on 09-18-17
By: David Boaz
-
If It Sounds Like a Quack...
- A Journey to the Fringes of American Medicine
- By: Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's no secret that American health care has become too costly and politicized to help everyone. So where do you turn if you can't afford doctors, or don't trust them? In this book, Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling examines the growing universe of non-traditional treatments—including some that are really non-traditional. With costs skyrocketing and anti-science sentiment spreading, the so-called "medical freedom" movement has grown. Now it faces its greatest challenge: going mainstream.
-
-
WOW! A Must Read!
- By Christine on 09-14-23
-
Libertarianism
- A Primer
- By: David Boaz
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Boaz presents the essential guidebook to the libertarian perspective, detailing its roots, central tenets, solutions to contemporary policy dilemmas, and future in American politics. He confronts head-on the tough questions frequently posed to libertarians: What about inequality? Who protects the environment? What ties people together if they are essentially self-interested?
-
-
Clear, in-depth analysis
- By Dennis on 04-28-04
By: David Boaz
-
For a New Liberty
- The Libertarian Manifesto
- By: Murray N. Rothbard
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, Rothbard proposes a once-and-for-all escape from the two major political parties, the ideologies they embrace, and their central plans for using state power against people. Libertarianism is Rothbard's radical alternative that says state power is unworkable and immoral, and ought to be curbed and finally overthrown.
-
-
I'm a Ron Paul Libertarian but this is a good
- By monte reed on 03-20-12
-
Black Pill
- How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics
- By: Elle Reeve
- Narrated by: Elle Reeve
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning journalist and CNN correspondent Elle Reeve was not surprised by the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. With years of in-depth research and on-the-ground investigative reporting under her belt, Reeve was aware of the preoccupations of the online far right and their journey from the computer to QAnon, militias, and racist groups. At the same time, Reeve saw a parallel growth of counterforces, with citizen vigilantes using new tools and tactics to take down the far right.
-
-
Great story — uneven performance
- By SSG on 08-19-24
By: Elle Reeve
-
Guns, Germs and Steel
- The Fate of Human Societies
- By: Jared Diamond
- Narrated by: Doug Ordunio
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having done field work in New Guinea for more than 30 years, Jared Diamond presents the geographical and ecological factors that have shaped the modern world. From the viewpoint of an evolutionary biologist, he highlights the broadest movements both literal and conceptual on every continent since the Ice Age, and examines societal advances such as writing, religion, government, and technology.
-
-
Compelling pre-history and emergent history
- By Doug on 08-25-11
By: Jared Diamond
-
The Libertarian Mind
- A Manifesto for Freedom
- By: David Boaz
- Narrated by: Scott Feighner
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Libertarianism: A Primer, by David Boaz, the longtime executive vice president of the Cato Institute, continues to be the best available guide to the history, ideas, and growth of this increasingly important political movement - and now it has been updated throughout and with a new title: The Libertarian Mind. Boaz has updated the book with new information on the threat of government surveillance; the policies that led up to and stemmed from the 2008 financial crisis; corruption in Washington; and the unsustainable welfare state.
-
-
Excellent all around
- By C. Booth on 09-18-17
By: David Boaz
-
If It Sounds Like a Quack...
- A Journey to the Fringes of American Medicine
- By: Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's no secret that American health care has become too costly and politicized to help everyone. So where do you turn if you can't afford doctors, or don't trust them? In this book, Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling examines the growing universe of non-traditional treatments—including some that are really non-traditional. With costs skyrocketing and anti-science sentiment spreading, the so-called "medical freedom" movement has grown. Now it faces its greatest challenge: going mainstream.
-
-
WOW! A Must Read!
- By Christine on 09-14-23
-
Libertarianism
- A Primer
- By: David Boaz
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Boaz presents the essential guidebook to the libertarian perspective, detailing its roots, central tenets, solutions to contemporary policy dilemmas, and future in American politics. He confronts head-on the tough questions frequently posed to libertarians: What about inequality? Who protects the environment? What ties people together if they are essentially self-interested?
-
-
Clear, in-depth analysis
- By Dennis on 04-28-04
By: David Boaz
-
For a New Liberty
- The Libertarian Manifesto
- By: Murray N. Rothbard
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, Rothbard proposes a once-and-for-all escape from the two major political parties, the ideologies they embrace, and their central plans for using state power against people. Libertarianism is Rothbard's radical alternative that says state power is unworkable and immoral, and ought to be curbed and finally overthrown.
-
-
I'm a Ron Paul Libertarian but this is a good
- By monte reed on 03-20-12
-
Black Pill
- How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics
- By: Elle Reeve
- Narrated by: Elle Reeve
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning journalist and CNN correspondent Elle Reeve was not surprised by the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. With years of in-depth research and on-the-ground investigative reporting under her belt, Reeve was aware of the preoccupations of the online far right and their journey from the computer to QAnon, militias, and racist groups. At the same time, Reeve saw a parallel growth of counterforces, with citizen vigilantes using new tools and tactics to take down the far right.
-
-
Great story — uneven performance
- By SSG on 08-19-24
By: Elle Reeve
-
Guns, Germs and Steel
- The Fate of Human Societies
- By: Jared Diamond
- Narrated by: Doug Ordunio
- Length: 16 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Having done field work in New Guinea for more than 30 years, Jared Diamond presents the geographical and ecological factors that have shaped the modern world. From the viewpoint of an evolutionary biologist, he highlights the broadest movements both literal and conceptual on every continent since the Ice Age, and examines societal advances such as writing, religion, government, and technology.
-
-
Compelling pre-history and emergent history
- By Doug on 08-25-11
By: Jared Diamond
What listeners say about A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Timothy English
- 03-02-21
Crash course on the stupidity of Libertarianism
Libertarianism shouldn't be taken seriously as a political philosophy and this book illustrates why. They created an Ayn Rand "utopia" in New Hampshire and watched their experiment crumble as they couldn't even handle previously solved problems. They drove away everything good in the name of freedom while neighboring towns prospered through infrastructure improvements, public investments, governmental planning, and civic pride. As for the title of the book, it comes from the fact that by following Libertarian principles, they caused a rash of bear attacks in their community. A phenomenon not recorded in the area for a hundred years. The stories and people are compelling and the author made it a very interesting read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- RedEnvoy05
- 11-27-20
Entertaining and surprising
I live in Enfield NH. Not far from Grafton. I knew some of the details from this book, but found it fascinating. For anybody who lives in New Hampshire or is just interested in the state this is a must read. I'm sure the Grafton bears have made their way to our bird feeder a time or two. one was destroyed. The second time it was a bit sturdier so could be repaired. I enjoyed the book and recommend it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sarah McK
- 08-14-23
Eye opening
I live in Danbury, a town next to Grafton. This book was so enlightening to some of the odd happenings we have seen in the area for years.
So interesting!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 01-13-22
1ofthebest
I'll be completely honest I didn't know what I was expecting from this book when I started. This is a very intricate and detailed story of a community told from the beginning of our nation's founding,Is through the present day.The narrator did an amazing job, reading the poetry and the stories of the people in this Community... The damages of accepting a total libertarianist society without having any form of regulation sing through this story..
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- T
- 04-23-22
Odd but good!
Plenty in here about libertarians, more than I expected about bears. A weird, meandering, take on the Free Town Project, well told and generally neutral in tone.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert W. Gaines
- 08-06-22
Most conflicted review I’ve ever written
If you’re looking for something informative stop here and go elsewhere. The book however is wildly interesting and entertaining.
At no point does the author define what a libertarian is and lumps most of the characters, many of which are absolute loons, under that banner.
Although the author is writing about history events, there is heavy emphasis on the absurd.
Anyone looking to deeply understand libertarianism needs to read Murray Rothbard’s “For a New Liberty”. This book is primarily about a crazy town and its most crazy residents.
Near the very end of this book the author casually depicts some of the characters as anarcho-communists. Once again he does not explain what that means but throughout most of the book you think you are led to believe the are libertarians.
This book is a road trip with your crazy uncle. Four stars for entertainment value. Zero stars for explaining libertarian ideology.
Buying this book to understand libertarianism would be like buying “The DaVinci Code” to understand Catholicism.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Patrick Delaney
- 07-04-23
outstanding
the author tells a wonderful story of the lunacy that is libertarianism.
very funny. I purchased his new title immediately after finishing this one.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Matthew
- 06-23-21
THIS THING IS WILD!
"Contrary to the libertarians expectation however, real life in the free town seemed to be almost the reverse of Rand's fictional vision"
Guns, bear, donuts, bears, legalizing incest and bum fights, more bears, guard llamas, inept survivalists, poaching, and still more bears. Do yourself a favor and check this out; the idiocy is incredible.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kenny
- 10-19-20
Short and sweet
This book feels timely with the current admin's response to the covid pandemic. It's part comedy, part tragedy. And all around fun read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Eldavidthomas
- 08-17-21
phenomenal
Excellent description of the ridiculous, counter intuitive, anti-social, selfish, and vapid ideals of the libertarian pphilosophy.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!