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Anthony McCann's Shadowlands is an extraordinary book. The story it tells is compulsively fascinating, and an excellent microcosm by which we might better understand our difficult national history and distressing political moment. But Shadowlands is much more than a compelling, timely tale. By combining journalism, historical research, and profound intellectual reflection, McCann has created an epic exploration of freedom, care, sovereignty, violence, race, nationalism, punishment, social media, nature, and justice. His magnificent, frequently exquisite prose, his formidable, ever-questing intellect, his wry and welcome sense of humor, and his uncommon empathy for human and non-human forms of life alike make Shadowlands a truly rare and stunning achievement. --Maggie Nelson, National Book Critics Circle Award winning author of THE ARGONAUTS With empathy, poetry, and a keen, clear-eyed sense of the weirdness of it all, Anthony McCann goes far beyond the cartoon version of the Malheur occupation that we all watched on the news, peeling through the layers of the past to reveal the many battling ghosts and fictions that together create the thing we call America. If you want to understand the tortured longings that have brought us to this perilous juncture, I can't think of a better primer. Shadowlands is an extraordinary achievement, a powerful reckoning with history and all the Big American Words-freedom, democracy, sovereignty-that echo through the silence and violence of the American West. --Ben Ehrenreich, author of THE WAY TO THE SPRING McCann demonstrates that the truth surrounds us all; our best way of connecting with it is through compassion and love. With equal parts exuberance and dread, the speaker encourages us to waste the whole day feeling these things. --Nate Pritts, Boston Review on I HEART YOUR FATE You will feel what he is meaning. You will be moved by something pre-historic and radiant. Which is to say: you will be moved by this mysterious, lyric, ecstatic thing: poetry. --Matthew Dickman, Tin House on I HEART YOUR FATE Here ideas are made physical in the bodies of reader and writer, bodies the page both hides and calls into mind. It's a delightful, weird experience. McCann's poems is like being invited to lick the light. --Heather Christle, PEN America on THING MUSIC Thing Music is active, vital and embodied, it scuttles, it tastes cities, drinks the desert air, it itches, groans, dies, lives, clips its toenails, rides the train, takes pictures with its phone, pushes furniture around, and is unilaterally wet with light. The book drips with the salivation of its many mouths. --Shawnacy Kiker, The Rumpus on THING MUSIC

The story Shadowlands tells is compulsively fascinating, and an excellent microcosm by which we might better understand our difficult national history and distressing political moment. McCann's magnificent prose, ever-questing intellect, wry humor, and uncommon empathy for human and non-human forms of life alike make Shadowlands a truly rare and stunning achievement. --Maggie Nelson, National Book Critics Circle Award winning author of THE ARGONAUTS With empathy, poetry, and a keen, clear-eyed sense of the weirdness of it all, Anthony McCann goes far beyond the cartoon version of the Malheur occupation that we all watched on the news. Shadowlands is a powerful reckoning with history and all the Big American Words-freedom, democracy, sovereignty-that echo through the silence and violence of the American West. --Ben Ehrenreich, author of THE WAY TO THE SPRING Anthony McCann knows the Western past has not vanished; it has just gotten weirder. Shadowlands takes us down a Western rabbit hole where a delusional settler story staged for the internet on sacred Native ground illuminates the United States we now inhabit. This is a classic American story. --Richard White, Pulitzer Prize finalist for RAILROADED Shadowlands is an extraordinarily thoughtful exploration of division in this country that treats the Malheur Standoff for what it was: a reckoning over what kind of country we should, or shouldn't, be living in. --Nick Reding, author of METHLAND: THE DEATH AND LIFE OF AN AMERICAN SMALL TOWN A vivid and exciting account of a telling historic event. --Arlie Hochschild, author of National Book Award finalist STRANGERS IN THEIR OWN LAND As cable-news programmers and even congressmen find their profit in driving ordinary Americans and right-wing paramilitaries ever closer to civil war, Anthony McCann's provocative, empathetic, and patriotic Shadowlands is our alarm bell in the night. --Woody Holton, author of National Book Award finalist UNRULY AMERICANS AND THE ORIGINS OF THE CONSTITUTION What makes Shadowlands exceptional is not only that it provides a critically informed look at the Oregon standoff, but how it offers a clear exegesis of the accumulated history that has gone into forming the American West and, by extension, America itself. --Brian Evenson, author of A COLLAPSE OF HORSES and THE WAVERING KNIFE

Rewarding . . . shreds the reductive narrative foisted upon the occupation, retrieving its participants from caricature. - The Oregonian A momentous and important non-fiction debut . . . The core subject is nothing less than the nature of American identity and the concept of freedom. Admirably, McCann's ethos is not that of a neutral bystander but of a truth seeker. He thinks through viewpoints with depth and empathy, but he also takes stands and calls out the problematic for what it is. . . . This is a heavily researched and thoughtful book, written with detail and care, that asks big questions of the reader and of the country. - starred review, Booklist SHADOWLANDS offers fascinating insights and poses interesting questions. . . . a valuable glimpse at a group of often overlooked people contributing to the great divide in American life. - Minneapolis Star Tribune A riveting in-depth investigation . . . McCann's arresting and brilliant firsthand account is required reading for anyone interested in the ideological gap between the American Left and Right. - starred review, Publishers Weekly An insider account of the Malheur occupation. From the lead-up to the occupation, through the trials and the aftermath, this will be the defining chronicle of a cultural and political moment we could all do better to understand. - Source Weekly It is a different tone. If those [other books] are more from that immersion journalism, seat-of-the-pants, gonzo journalism this is more a poetic touch. . . . He takes a different approach that readers might find 'refreshing'. - State of Nevada, Nevada Public Radio Wonderful journalistic detailed history, with deep-rooted significance that the writer helps us comprehend both intellectually and viscerally. - Shawangunk Journal SHADOWLANDS offers fascinating insights and poses interesting questions. . . . a valuable glimpse at a group of often overlooked people contributing to the great divide in American life - Minneapolis Star Tribune The story Shadowlands tells is compulsively fascinating, and an excellent microcosm by which we might better understand our difficult national history and distressing political moment. McCann's magnificent prose, ever-questing intellect, wry humor, and uncommon empathy for human and non-human forms of life alike make Shadowlands a truly rare and stunning achievement. - Maggie Nelson, National Book Critics Circle Award winning author of THE ARGONAUTS The SoCal-based poet brings vivid lyricism to Shadowlands, an account of the 2016 right-wing occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. - Portland Monthly With empathy, poetry, and a keen, clear-eyed sense of the weirdness of it all, Anthony McCann goes far beyond the cartoon version of the Malheur occupation that we all watched on the news. Shadowlands is a powerful reckoning with history and all the Big American Words--freedom, democracy, sovereignty--that echo through the silence and violence of the American West. - Ben Ehrenreich, author of THE WAY TO THE SPRING Anthony McCann knows the Western past has not vanished; it has just gotten weirder. Shadowlands takes us down a Western rabbit hole where a delusional settler story staged for the internet on sacred Native ground illuminates the United States we now inhabit. This is a classic American story. - Richard White, Pulitzer Prize finalist for RAILROADED As cable-news programmers and even congressmen find their profit in driving ordinary Americans and right-wing paramilitaries ever closer to civil war, Anthony McCann's provocative, empathetic, and patriotic Shadowlands is our alarm bell in the night. - Woody Holton, author of National Book Award finalist UNRULY AMERICANS AND THE ORIGINS OF THE CONSTITUTION What makes Shadowlands exceptional is not only that it provides a critically informed look at the Oregon standoff, but how it offers a clear exegesis of the accumulated history that has gone into forming the American West and, by extension, America itself. - Brian Evenson, author of A COLLAPSE OF HORSES and THE WAVERING KNIFE

Anthony McCann's Shadowlands is an extraordinary book. The story it tells is compulsively fascinating, and an excellent microcosm by which we might better understand our difficult national history and distressing political moment. But Shadowlands is much more than a compelling, timely tale. By combining journalism, historical research, and profound intellectual reflection, McCann has created an epic exploration of freedom, care, sovereignty, violence, race, nationalism, punishment, social media, nature, and justice. His magnificent, frequently exquisite prose, his formidable, ever-questing intellect, his wry and welcome sense of humor, and his uncommon empathy for human and non-human forms of life alike make Shadowlands a truly rare and stunning achievement. --Maggie Nelson, National Book Critics Circle Award winning author of The Argonauts McCann demonstrates that the truth surrounds us all; our best way of connecting with it is through compassion and love. With equal parts exuberance and dread, the speaker encourages us to waste the whole day feeling these things. --Boston Review on I HEART YOUR FATE You will feel what he is meaning. You will be moved by something pre-historic and radiant. Which is to say: you will be moved by this mysterious, lyric, ecstatic thing: poetry. --Matthew Dickman, Tin House on I HEART YOUR FATE Here ideas are made physical in the bodies of reader and writer, bodies the page both hides and calls into mind. It's a delightful, weird experience. McCann's poems is like being invited to lick the light. --Heather Christle, PEN America on THING MUSIC Thing Music is active, vital and embodied, it scuttles, it tastes cities, drinks the desert air, it itches, groans, dies, lives, clips its toenails, rides the train, takes pictures with its phone, pushes furniture around, and is unilaterally wet with light. The book drips with the salivation of its many mouths. --The Rumpus on THING MUSIC

Author Information

Anthony McCann is the author of the poetry collections Thing Music, I Heart Your Fate and Moongarden. He currently teaches creative writing at the California Institute of the Arts and in the Low-Residency MFA program of the University of California, Riverside. Born and raised in the Hudson Valley, McCann now lives in the Mojave Desert.

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