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Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'
A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
21 reviews
informative
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty
Minor: Gore
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death
So far the humour has felt more mean than funny. And if the first chapters are about history, I'm no history expert and I've already heard things that are misleading. For example the idea of paying for heads of bears being a novel idea in the American colonies. But the same concept was used to eradicate wolves in Britian and Ireland.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death
dark
funny
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
I heard a podcast of the basic content of this book a few years back and this has been on my TBR since. The sub-title is a really good summary. I do think it was clever of the author to clarify that the unhappy outcome of a bunch of surly people refusing to pay taxes may be about them being surly in the first place, rather than the taxes not being paid... but the fact that this experiment in un-regulated Free-Living collapsed under its own disorganisation seems like an obvious outcome. It's the unforeseen effects that the project had on the surrounding wildlife that brings home what happens when humans "do what they wanna do, play how they wanna play" en masse.
From what I have read and the people I have talked to, typically communes and ideological groups go for small scale colonisation; things like encampments, forest communities, compounds, off-grid villages, and sometimes urban co-ops. The most successful of these have leadership and organisation, and can support inter-generational care and mutual aid. Anarchist and Socialist communes are often formed around core leadership or principles.
The idea of a bunch of people who innately distrust organised governance, forming a community, when the pooling of resources seems to them like the "taxation" they are fighting against, sounds like tragedy waiting to happen. I sometimes wonder how investigative journalists get away with reporting on things like this. Hongoltz-Hetling presents a sympathetic picture of the motivations and philosophies of the people he interviewed. Some of the recounting of events is delivered in a firmly tongue in cheek manner. The author became pretty anxious about knocking on doors in a Free Town full of unregulated gun toting individualists. If you ask the wrong questions people might give you some "Friendly Advice" about where to go. Highly ominous.
The author has this theory that maybe they were all mad.. humans and bears, because of toxoplasmosis.. *shrug* could be? It's a quirky detail of the book. Speculative.
There was a lot of history in this audiobook that was not covered in the podcast which was interesting. The glib humour of the author did help to smooth the bitter content of the subject matter. When you refuse to pay for a fire service, the outcomes are predictable. Lots of sad losses in this fight for Freedom. Guns scare me at the best of times; were I in a town that was colonised by these people I would be more scared of the people than the bears.
From what I have read and the people I have talked to, typically communes and ideological groups go for small scale colonisation; things like encampments, forest communities, compounds, off-grid villages, and sometimes urban co-ops. The most successful of these have leadership and organisation, and can support inter-generational care and mutual aid. Anarchist and Socialist communes are often formed around core leadership or principles.
The idea of a bunch of people who innately distrust organised governance, forming a community, when the pooling of resources seems to them like the "taxation" they are fighting against, sounds like tragedy waiting to happen. I sometimes wonder how investigative journalists get away with reporting on things like this. Hongoltz-Hetling presents a sympathetic picture of the motivations and philosophies of the people he interviewed. Some of the recounting of events is delivered in a firmly tongue in cheek manner. The author became pretty anxious about knocking on doors in a Free Town full of unregulated gun toting individualists. If you ask the wrong questions people might give you some "Friendly Advice" about where to go. Highly ominous.
The author has this theory that maybe they were all mad.. humans and bears, because of toxoplasmosis.. *shrug* could be? It's a quirky detail of the book. Speculative.
There was a lot of history in this audiobook that was not covered in the podcast which was interesting. The glib humour of the author did help to smooth the bitter content of the subject matter. When you refuse to pay for a fire service, the outcomes are predictable. Lots of sad losses in this fight for Freedom. Guns scare me at the best of times; were I in a town that was colonised by these people I would be more scared of the people than the bears.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Suicide attempt
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Pedophilia
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
I was granted a digital advance copy of A Libertarian Walks into a Bear several years ago before it was published, where it unfortunately languished on my e-reader during my reading dry streak of several years. I finally picked it back up and finished it this year, and I'm so glad I did. The story is a fascinating look at libertarian policies in action, wildlife behavior, New Hampshire politics in general, communal vs individual mindsets and how they affect community or lack thereof, and how all these facets played into each other. I loved that Hongoltz-Hetling showed us without much telling. He simply juxtaposed events and facts and interviews in such a way that the reader could see the connections and draw their own conclusions. His interviews seemed compassionate and even-handed, respectful to even the most seemingly unhinged people involved in these events. There were so many little asides that were fascinating in their own rights, such as his reflections on how people's criticisms of the bears as "fat" and lazy felt to him as a fat man hearing them first hand, and the statistics he quoted about the percentage of assault rifle ownership in New Hampshire in general.
I thoroughly enjoyed most of this book, and learned a lot, as well as coming away with things to consider. I have so much more respect for bears as fearsome and intelligent predators now, not good or bad, simply smart and capable of being very very dangerous to humans. this book has definitely reduced my interest in ever living in New Hampshire (also not in terms of good or bad, but not a good fit for me), and given me insight into libertarianism and its adherents. I would definitely recommend A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear to anyone interested in fairly recent contemporary nonfiction involving culture and politics and nature, that is humorous and thoughtful and informative all at once.
Thank you so much to @PublicAffairsBooks and #Netgalley for sharing this treat of a digital advanced copy with me. Sorry it took so long to read and review it. I highly recommend #ALibertarianWalksIntoaBear
I thoroughly enjoyed most of this book, and learned a lot, as well as coming away with things to consider. I have so much more respect for bears as fearsome and intelligent predators now, not good or bad, simply smart and capable of being very very dangerous to humans. this book has definitely reduced my interest in ever living in New Hampshire (also not in terms of good or bad, but not a good fit for me), and given me insight into libertarianism and its adherents. I would definitely recommend A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear to anyone interested in fairly recent contemporary nonfiction involving culture and politics and nature, that is humorous and thoughtful and informative all at once.
Thank you so much to @PublicAffairsBooks and #Netgalley for sharing this treat of a digital advanced copy with me. Sorry it took so long to read and review it. I highly recommend #ALibertarianWalksIntoaBear
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Alcohol
funny
informative
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
funny
informative
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death
dark
informative
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Hilarious and tragic at the same time, Hongoltz-Hetling's wry authorial tone carries the reader along this rollercoaster of uniquely American political farce.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, Classism
Minor: Fatphobia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation