Title:
Chosen Country a Rebellion in the West

Author: James Pogue

In a remote corner of Oregon, James Pogue found himself at the heart of a rebellion. Granted unmatched access by Ammon Bundy to the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Pogue met with ranchers and militiamen ready to die fighting the federal government.

He witnessed the fallout of communities riven by politics and the danger (and allure) of uncompromising religious belier. The occupation ended in the shooting death of one rancher, the arrest of dozens more, and a firestorm over the role of government that engulfed national headlines. The resulting federal trials and their dramatic conclusions have only clouded the future of America’s public lands.

In a raw and restless narrative that roams the same wild terrain as his literary forebears Edward Abbey and Hunter S. Thompson, Pogue examines the struggles to reconcile diverging ideas of freedom, tracing a cultural fault line that spans the nation.