The Picketwire Manifesto
(Book)

In rural Southern Colorado the Army is attempting a land grab via Eminent Domain. Johnny Kimberly is the scion of a dying culture and dying landscape. He is faced with a stark choice: Fight a losing battle with his pride intact or sell out and leave. Allied with him is an ad hoc coalition of ranchers, farmers, ecologists and artists, but with the Army having the deepest pockets and the patience of Job, the coalition is the underdog. Kimberly is in good company, though moral suasion is at a disadvantage in the face of money, big government, and the heartless momentum of raw power. His personal coterie of local allies face their own existential crises as a way of life bites the dust of both historical inevitability and a national security apparatus run amok. Those for whom "fly-over country" is a blank space on the map might pass on this novel, but those for whom "fly-over country" is an insult, and whose family trees were watered in the blood of western settlement will find plenty of sign to cut for.