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

By Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling

Book Overview

"Simultaneously hilarious, poignant, and deeply unsettling." ―The New Republic

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1541788494
• ISBN13: 9781541788497
• Release Date: September 2021
• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.1"