Book Discussion: Milagro Beanfiled War by John Nichols

Drop in book discussion group. Only rule is we discuss the book! Let us know if you need a copy of the book.

Our January 17, 2023 discussion is on "Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

About the book: Joe Mondragon, a feisty hustler with a talent for trouble, slammed his  battered pickup to a stop, tugged on his gumboots, and marched into the  arid patch of ground. Carefully (and also illegally), he tapped into the  main irrigation channel. And so began--though few knew it at the  time--the Milagro beanfield war. But like everything else in the  dirt-poor town of Milagro, it would be a patchwork war, fought more by  tactical retreats than by battlefield victories. Gradually, the small  farmers and sheepmen begin to rally to Joe's beanfield as the symbol of  their lost rights and their lost lands. And downstate in the capital,  the Anglo water barons and power brokers huddle in urgent conference,  intent on destroying that symbol before it destroys their  multimillion-dollar land-development schemes. The tale of Milagro's  rising is wildly comic and lovingly tender, a vivid portrayal of a town  that, half-stumbling and partly prodded, gropes its way toward its own  stubborn salvation.