Live Author Event - Jonathan P. Thompson ("Sagebrush Empire")

136 North 100 East,St. George UT 84770

28 August, 2021

Description

Author Jonathan P. Thompson in conversation with Conserve Southwest Utah's Public Lands Program Manager, Isabel Adler, about his new book. For those of you looking for a "true crime" investigation into a vast cow–killing conspiracy, this book isn't it. The author doesn't re–litigate the case, or try to dig and dig until he gets to the bottom of what really happened out in the Southeastern Utah desert on April Fool's Day 2017. After all, the facts aren't in dispute. Franklin closed the gate, period. All that remains up for debate is his reason for doing so, and quite frankly it's a waste of time to hash that one out, especially since no cattle were harmed. The intention of this book, according to Thompson, is to get at the question of exactly how it came to this, how an action as seemingly inconsequential as closing a gate potentially could lead to prison time for Franklin, a mild–mannered retiree whose political activism peaked with his involvement in the Old Spanish Trail Foundation, and that would inspire such vile comments and even threats of violence against Chilcoat. The event will feature a brief reading by the author, followed by a conversation between him and Isabel Adler, Public Lands Program Manager for Conserve Southwest Utah. There may be a third person added to the discussion, as well. And we will leave time for questions from the audience. Jonathan P. Thompson is an award-winning freelance author, journalist and editor. He usually writes about the land, culture and communities of the American West, with an emphasis on energy development, pollution, land-use politics and economics. But he’s fascinated by the complexity of the world around him, and is happy to delve into almost any topic. He is also the author of River of Lost Souls: The Science, Politics, and Greed Behind the Gold King Mine Disaster (Torrey House Press, February 2018) and Behind the Slickrock Curtain: A Project Petrichor Thriller (Lost Souls Press, September 2020), besides being a contributing editor at High Country News. Isabel Adler is CSU's new Public Lands Program Director. As a new graduate of Colby College in Waterville, Maine, with a degree in government and environmental affairs, she has dedicated her academic career to studying environmental advocacy in order to return to Utah to advocate for the landscapes and people that make this environment so spectacular. I am an award-winning author and the owner of The Book Bungalow, the only independent bookstore selling all new books and offering a full slate of events in Southern Utah. Our mission is to become the literary soul of our community, and to help bridge understanding within the community through reading, writing, and discussion.