School of Critical Studies faculty Anthony McCann’s nonfiction prose work Shadowlands: Fear and Freedom at the Oregon Standoff (Bloomsbury) has been named a finalist in the 30th annual Reading the West Book Awards.
Shadowlands investigates the 2016 occupation of Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by right-wing protesters, and the ways in which this divisive event engaged the law, social activism, religion, social media, and the environment. The book was named a Los Angeles Times bestseller, and described in an October 2019 Times review as:
Colorful, insightful … well worth reading. McCann not only backlights the setting and the characters with historical detail that fleshes out the 2016 episode but also puts the story in the context of a politically tumultuous year that landed Donald Trump in the White House.
McCann was nominated in the Narrative Nonfiction category, alongside Bryce Andrews (Down from the Mountain), Pekka Hämäläinen (Lakota America), Stephen Harrigan (Big Wonderful Thing), Rick McIntyre (The Rise of Wolf 8), and David Wolman and Julian Smith (Aloha Rodeo).
The Reading the West Book Award shortlists are curated by independent booksellers across 12 western and mid-western states and honor the “rich variety of writing in and about this region” across fiction, nonfiction, picture books, and more. Shadowlands was among the 140 titles submitted for consideration in this year’s edition.
Readers can cast votes for the individual book awards here. Winners will be announced May 1, 2020.
McCann’s Shadowlands was also recently mentioned in our recent list of recommended quarantine reading. Be sure to check out his and other CalArtian titles.