The Milagro Beanfield War: A Novel by John Nichols, Rini Templeton (Illustrator)

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Synopsis

The day Joe Mondragon illegally irrigated his parents~ beanfield was the day change came to the small southwestern town of Milagro.joe was known for a certain feistiness that often landed him in jail, but this rebellious act, clearly unlawful, confused the sheriff, baffled the Ladd Devine Company, which now owned the water rights, and gave the governor a funny feeling in his gut. How a small town of disenfranchised people came to rally over Joe's beanfield and reclaim their own lost rights is a story that remains funny, fresh, and inspiring. Call it a political novel, a Southwest novel, a comic novel, or an environmental novel, The Milagro Beanfield War succeeds brilliantly on all fronts.

Published in 1974 to little fanfare, Milagro took a while to captivate a large readership. A decade later, however, the book had achieved status as an underground cult favorite, and in 1988, Robert Redford made it into a feature film, which prompted translations of the novel into Danish, German, Dutch, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese. And so a contemporary classic was born.

Seattle Times

A fine, zesty novel ... compassionate, affectionate, and exciting as buman cussedness can make it.

Biography

John Nichols's New Mexico Trilogy, inaugurated in 1974 with the publication of The Milagro Beanfield War, has grown from regional stature to national appeal, from literary radicals to cult classics. Beloved for his compassionate, richly comic vision and admired for his insight into the cancer that accompanies unbridled progress, Nichols is the author of nine novels and six works of nonfiction. He lives in northern New Mexico.