Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I grew up in the town this book was written about. The moment I saw that a book had been written about the crazy stuff that happened I immediately bought it. First and foremost, the author has a talent for historical deep dives. While not necessarily relevant to the stories being told in the book, he has several entertaining sections that meander through the settlement of new england. I enjoyed reliving some of the memories about my hometown, especially our tiny library. His description of the FSP’s disastrous town meeting was spot on. The interviews with John Babiarz painted a phenomenal picture of our small town. Unfortunate, that’s about where the accuracy ends. The author’s view of small town operations is clearly disconnected from reality. As an example, he interviews one of the few residents that lives on Wild Meadow Road. I lived half a mile from there and walked my dog down that road regularly. The author implies that because those darned libertarians slashed taxes, the town was unable to keep the road plowed. Anyone who’s been there knows the real reason: there’s an extremely steep section that’s unsafe to drive on in the winter, even for plows! The rest of the road does get plowed, but since the road only has a handful of houses on it and sees very little traffic, it’s one of the last ones to get plowed out. Another example is the struggling fire department. If you believe the author, those pesky libertarians are to blame! Unfortunately, fire departments across the country are struggling for both members and funding. It’s exceptionally bad in rural areas, where a population of 1000 simply can’t afford a $500,000 fire engine and $800,000 per year for one crew of paid firefighters, no matter how high the taxes are. I broke out laughing when he seriously suggested that a parasite was controlling the town, causing crazy behavior. But what about the bears? The author is clear that a long-time town resident spent a huge amount of money feeding the bears twice a day, causing aggressive behavior. Some of the libertarians that moved to the area had to learn the hard way how to live in bear country (just like non-libertarians do when they move to Grafton). That’s… about it. Based on the title I was expecting some “gotcha” moment, but it seems to be missing, along with any sense of cohesive narrative.