Synopses & Reviews
The gripping story of two marijuana advocates gunned down by the FBI after a five-day standoff.
On a mission to build a peaceful, pot-friendly Shangri-La, Tom Crosslin and his lover Rollie Rohm founded Rainbow Farm, a well-appointed campground and concert venue tucked away in rural Southwest Michigan. The farm quickly became the center of marijuana and environmental activism in Michigan, drawing thousands of blue-collar libertarians and hippie liberals, evangelicals and militiamen to its annual hemp festivals. People came from all over the country to support Tom and Rollie's libertarian brand of patriotism: They loved America but didn't like the War on Drugs.
As Rainbow Farm launched a popular statewide ballot initiative to change marijuana laws, local authorities, who had scarcely tolerated Rainbow Farm in the past, began an all-out campaign to shut the place down. Finally, in May 2001, Tom and Rollie were arrested for growing marijuana. Rollie's 11-year-old son, who grew up on Rainbow Farm, was placed in foster care - Tom would never see him again. Faced with mandatory jail terms and the loss of the farm, Tom and Rollie never showed up for their August court date. Instead, the state's two best-known pot advocates burned Rainbow Farm to the ground in protest. County officials called the FBI, and within five days Tom and Rollie were dead. Obscured by the attacks of September 11, their stories will be told here for the first time.
Review
" An excellent look at the marijuana subculture, deluded or not, aspiring to the Middle-American mainstream." Kirkus
Review
"Kuipers has given us a deftly reported glimpse into America's blue collar rural stoner subculture."-- Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed Kirkus, starred review
Review
" An excellent look at the marijuana subculture, deluded or not, aspiring to the Middle-American mainstream."
Review
"We need more books written like this one. That seems to be the only way we are really going to find out the real truth on what is going on."--Carol Long, Carol's Paperback Plus, Waterford, MI Barbara Ehrenreich - Kirkus - John Blades - Ellen Kanner - Gilbert Taylor - Jane Brody's "Personal Health" column in The New York Times - Daniel Mallory - Jim Harrison, author of True North - Michael Ondaatje - Karen Karbo - Kristine Huntley - Susan Orlean - John Banville - Anthony Quinn - Gahan Wilson - John Fowles - Neil Walsh - Stephen R. Donaldson - Jacqueline Carey - Glen Cook - Elizabeth Haydon - David Drake - Robert Charles Wilson - Cory Doctorow - Bret Easton Ellis - Candace Bushnell - Dominick Dunne - Jay McInerney - Jonathan Demme, filmmaker - A.O. Scott - Martin Arnold - Steve Kroft, 60 Minutes - J. B. Priestley - Charles de Lint - Dallas Observer - Jennifer Weiner, author of In Her Shoes and Little Earthquakes - Jay Leno - Laura Zigman, author of Animal Husbandry, Dating Big Bird, and Her - Liz Smith - Gillian Engberg - Clarissa Cruz - Jay Strafford - Hallie Ephron - Patrick Anderson - Walter Jon Williams - S. M. Stirling - Connie Willis, Hugo Award-winning author of To Say Nothing of the Dog - Morgan Llywelyn - Jacqueline Carey - George R.R. Martin - Frederick Busch - Anthony Quinn - Gahan Wilson - John Fowles - Paul Di Filippo - Publishers Weekly - Kirkus Reviews - Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine - Publishers Weekly - Kirkus Reviews - Kirkus Reviews - Booklist - SciFi.com - Entertainment Weekly - Kirkus - New Scientist - Newsday - Publishers Weekly - Realms of Fantasy - San Francisco Chronicle - The Sunday Times - The Washington Post - Time Out London - Wired - Los Angeles Times - Vanity Fair - New York Times Book Review - Rocky Mountain News - Library Journal - Publishers Weekly - Southern Living - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - Romantic Times - Midwest Book Review - Cincinnati Enquirer - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - Booklist - Romantic Times Bookclub - The New York Times - The Washington Times - Los Angeles Times - West Coast Review of Books - Chicago Tribune - Washington Post - Booklist - Chicago Sun-Times - Rocky Mountain News - Chicago Tribune - New York Sun - Publishers Weekly - Fangoria - Horn Book Magazine - School Library Journal - USA Today - Entertainment Weekly - Boston Globe - Richmond Times-Dispatch - Entertainment Weekly - January Magazine - Booklist - Library Journal - Library Journal Review - New York Post - About.com - New York Observer - The New York Times Book Review - Publishers Weekly - The Knoxville News-Sentinel - The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction - Midwest Book Review - Santa Barbara News-Press - Newsweek - Library Journal - Greenwich Magazine - Time Out New York - New York Times Book Review - San Francisco Chronicle - Booklist (starred review) - Booklist - Kirkus Reviews - Publishers Weekly (starred) - Washington Post Book World - Publishers Weekly, starred review - Kirkus Reviews - Publishers Weekly - School Library Journal - Kirkus Reviews - Publishers Weekly - Altair - TV Week (Australia) - Publishers Weekly (starred review) - SF Site - New York Observer - The Economist - Publishers Weekly - Enigma - SF Site - Entertainment Weekly - Kirkus - New Scientist - Newsday - Publishers Weekly - Realms of Fantasy - San Francisco Chronicle - The Sunday Times - The Washington Post - Time Out London - Wired - Romantic Times - San Francisco Chronicle - Chicago Tribune - Washington Post - The Associated Press - San Antonio Express-News - Booklist - Kirkus Reviews - Library Journal - Booklist - The Guardian - The Observer - Financial Times - New York Observer - Houston Chronicle - Art Week - Christian Science Monitor - Charlotte Observer - Edmonton Journal - Richmond Times-Dispatch - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - Booklist - Time Out New York - Library Journal - Cincinnati CityBeat - Globe and Mail - Quill and Quire - Vancouver Sun - New York Times Magazine - The Washington Post - Library Journal - Booklist - Dallas Morning News - Newsweek - The Washington Post Book World - The Los Angeles Times Book Review - Booklist - Stephen Coonts - W.E.B. Griffin - Thomas Fleming - Walter J. Boyne - Pages Magazine - Chronicle - Publishers Weekly - Southern Living - Booklist - Publishers Weekly - Romantic Times - Midwest Book Review - Chicago Tribune - Kirkus, starred review
Review
"We need more books written like this one. That seems to be the only way we are really going to find out the real truth on what is going on."--Carol Long, Carol's Paperback Plus, Waterford, MI
About the Author
Dean Kuipers is the deputy editor of
Los Angeles City Beat and the author of
I Am a Bullet and
Ray Gun out of Control. His work has appeared in
Rolling Stone, the
Los Angeles Times, and
Playboy. A native of Michigan (twenty miles from Rainbow Farm), he now lives in Los Angeles.