Book Review: A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling

Sometimes you learn the hard way that having a government is a good idea!

Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling's A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear documents the last few decades in Grafton, New Hampshire, a town that was overtaken by Libertarians as part of their Free Town project. This resulted in vast reductions in police and firefighter resources, a government building that was basically open-air, massive cuts to the town library ("You can read everything on the internet, man"), and re-definitions of the term "structurally sound". But when said town is on the edge of a New Hampshire forest, and some of the new "liberties" include the right to feed wild animals, the right to freedom from the Fish & Game wardens, and the right to do as you wish with your trash, you may end up a lot closer to bears than you ever imagined.

Hongoltz-Hetling, who covered the town for a local newspaper, does a masterful job of writing here - the scene is set beautifully and the key characters are very colored in. This is especially good since, while the idea for the story is sound, it was hard to execute - there are a lot of people you need to remember, and there's no real "end" to the story (the Free Town movement just kind of fizzled out). But Hongoltz-Hetling keeps you enthralled the whole way through - while getting you up to speed on the history of libertarianism and the history of bears - as the twin stories move to their inevitable intersection.

This was a great read - and a great reminder that some fringe political philosophies are on the fringe for a reason. Nine out of ten hot dogs - just don't feed them to the bears!