The relationship of the friend Lee to the old man and the boy is also not clear, nor are his motives for putting his life on the line in their defence when he has a family of his own. We do not feel his fears when confronted with the might of the US government. He parrots and emulates his grandfather and seems to have no mind of his own. He is also a bit of a cold fish until the very end when he starts to gush emotion. The boy comes across as a cross between a child and a 20-something in his voice and manner. The story is narratted by the old rancher's 12-year old grandson, and this was I believe the main mistake in the delivery.
#Fire on the mountain free#
At a deeper level it also reminds us that America may be the home of the brave but is no more the land of the free than China is, especially when the government wants your land, and these are important lessons from the book. And the story reminds the reader that change is inevitable and those who resist it get run over. In a nutshell, an old rancher is being driven off his land in New Mexico to make way for a missile testing site. However the execution failed, in my view. Goliath, the stuff of old western comics. The premise of this book is interesting: the rugged individual takes on the overpowering state, David vs. These very authentic characters will be staying in my mind for a long time. Will Vogelin be successful in his attempt to save his ranch? You will be glued to this book and rooting for Vogelin to the last page.Įdward Abbey's beautiful description of the west alone is reason enough to read this book. Told from the POV of Billy, Vogelin's young grandson visiting for the summer from Philadelphia, Vogelin takes on everyone from the county Sheriff to the U.S. Reluctantly all of Vogelin's fellow ranchers are selling out to the government because the government will take their land one way or another. To make matters even worse his ranch borders the Alamogordo Missile Range in New Mexico and in order to successfully counter communism the missile range needs more room to test all those rockets. And he certainly doesn't appreciate the young man from the Range Management Bureau who recently visited his ranch and tried to tell him what he's doing wrong all in the name of conservation.
Set in the early 1960's rancher John Vogelin now in his 70's is having a hard time adjusting to the modern changes affecting the ranch that has been in his family since the 1800's. Wonderful book, I can certainly see why "Fire on the Mountain" is considered a classic Western too.
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