Shadowlands

Fear and Freedom at the Oregon Standoff

De: Anthony McCann

Narrado por: David Baerwald

Bloomsbury presents Shadowlands by Anthony McCann, read by David Baerwald.

Los Angeles Times Bestseller

An “epic exploration” of the 2016 right-wing Oregon Occupation—"an excellent microcosm by which we might better understand our difficult national history and distressing political moment” (Maggie Nelson).

In 2016, a group of armed, divinely inspired right-wing protestors led by Ammon Bundy occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in the high desert of eastern Oregon. Encamped in the shadowlands of the republic, insisting that the Federal government had no right to own public land, the occupiers were seen by a divided country as either dangerous extremists dressed up as cowboys, or as heroes insisting on restoring the rule of the Constitution. From the Occupation’s beginnings, to the trials of the occupiers in federal court in downtown Portland and their tumultuous aftermaths, Shadowlands is the resonant, multifaceted story of one of the most dramatic flashpoints in the year that gave us Donald Trump.

Sharing the expansive stage with the occupiers are a host of others—Native American tribal leaders, public-lands ranchers, militia members, environmentalists, federal defense attorneys, and Black Lives Matter activists—each contending in their different ways with the meaning of the American promise of Liberty. Gathering into its vortex the realities of social media technology, history, religion, race, and the environment—this piercing work by Anthony McCann offers us a combination of beautiful writing and high-stakes analysis of our current cultural and political moment. Shadowlands is a clarifying, exhilarating story of a nation facing an uncertain future and a murky past in a time of great collective reckoning.©2019 Anthony McCann (P)2019 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Reseñas de la Crítica

Strikingly empathetic . . . [Shadowlands] is that rare beast these days--a chronicle of and a meditation on an intensely politicized affair that delves beneath merely partisan concerns to touch its subject’s absurd and tragic heart. As such, it’s a work of almost foolish courage. . . . Scene by scene and act by act, in a range of literary registers that moves from the lyrical to the satirical, from theory-laced deconstruction to meat-and-potatoes reportage, he tells the tale of doomed, homemade rebellion against a force much larger than bureaucracy: the meaning-destroying, resource-gulping juggernaut of capitalist economics.

A riveting in-depth investigation . . . McCann’s arresting and brilliant firsthand account is required reading for anyone interested in the ideological gap between the American Left and Right.

A momentous and important non-fiction debut . . . The core subject is nothing less than the nature of American identity and the concept of freedom. Admirably, McCann’s ethos is not that of a neutral bystander but of a truth seeker. He thinks through viewpoints with depth and empathy, but he also takes stands and calls out the problematic for what it is. . . . This is a heavily researched and thoughtful book, written with detail and care, that asks big questions of the reader and of the country.

Shadowlands effects an entertaining, sweeping tone, developing cinematically as a colorful latticework of characters are introduced, documented, and pored over. There is no shortage of fascination in this story.

An insider account of the Malheur occupation. From the lead-up to the occupation, through the trials and the aftermath, this will be the defining chronicle of a cultural and political moment we could all do better to understand.

McCann’s account of the 2016 standoff known as the ‘Oregon Occupation’ defies categorization but is built out of a non-fiction tradition that stretches back to Joan Didion’s California essays, Capote’s In Cold Blood, and other ambitious works that begin with a violent transgression and radiate outward to take in large swaths of society during a flashpoint crisis. McCann breaks through the accepted narratives of the standoff to get at deeper truths about land in the west, ranching traditions, activist causes, and a host of other issues so central to today’s national divide.

The story Shadowlands tells is compulsively fascinating, and an excellent microcosm by which we might better understand our difficult national history and distressing political moment. McCann’s magnificent prose, ever-questing intellect, wry humor, and uncommon empathy for human and non-human forms of life alike make Shadowlands a truly rare and stunning achievement.

Elegantly rendered and deeply researched, Shadowlands brings seriousness to characters that are easily caricatured, and substance to a subject easily marginalized.

lovely meditation on the west

This book is pretty far out of step with the times, in that it takes some controversial events and steadfastly avoids condemning anyone, exalting anyone, or milking drama for suspense. Instead, it weaves a lot of history and personal reflection through the story of the title events, evoking with both its prose and pacing a long, thoughtful walk across the high desert. The author's broadly leftist but noncommittal politics will probably enrage anyone with strong feelings for or against the Bundy family, and the meandering structure requires some patience, but if you are interested in the American west and up for a journey to find poetry in current events, it is a richly rewarding one.

Great book, Okay audiobook

The writing itself is fantastic, it's just that the recording is a little subpar in some spots. The reader was audibly tired trying to stifle a yawn. It even cuts out and skips a sentences a few times.

the narrator misspronounced all of the local names

the narrator was terrible he kept mispronouncing words and the story wasn't well constructed it just felt like a stream of consciousness for the whole book

Horrible story for those who know anything about it

Very one sided story. Author’s biases show through most of the story, along with patent falsities. I know several of the people named in this story personally and a lot of things are skipped and or misrepresented if not even untrue altogether. Author also takes a lot of time with crazy side tangent ramblings that are neither important nor are they part of the story. I had high hopes that the story was strictly about the events and the trial in a factual sense not half about the events and trials and half opinion and what I guess one would have to call it prose. Also the authors disdain for religion as well as conservatives comes through loudly and clearly, and I could have done without all the anti Trump rhetoric sense the man had absolutely NOTHING to do with Bunkerville, the refuge takeover or the trials for either event. The Author claims to be a poet, and he should stick to poetry. The narrator however was good, and had a good voice for audiobooks