Just as my English teacher praised all of Shakespeare’s writings (and Kurt Cobain’s songwriting skills), I will praise every Ted Conover book. My paean for Conover’s work stems from his unique narrative: after choosing a topic for investigation and subsequently documenting every detail, Conover gives the reader a realistic peak into what this occupation or lifestyle looks like. This vastly differs from mainstream journalism because although Conover ‘interviews’ the people surrounding him, he first integrates himself into their community until he is so embedded as to appear a trustworthy local. At the core of Conover’s writings lie a healthy mix of genuine curiosity, and the ability to incorporate himself effortlessly into any collective. While curiosity drives any decent journalist (therefore is probably a prerequisite), Conover’s travels at a young age alongside radical cultures laid the groundwork for him to become an expert in assimilation. This ability, further harmonized with a touch of fearlessness, is why Conover’s book are so fun to read.

I discovered that Conover had published a new book while I was wandering around the Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver. If I had not recognized the author’s name, nothing about the cover would have grabbed my attention. But after reading Cheap Land Colorado, the unassuming cover photo presents a perfect nexus as to what inspired Conover to uproot his life as a NYU professor and live part time in a trailer: the stunning real estate available in southwest Colorado melded with off the grid dwellers who seek minimal, if not complete separation from the government. The latter point, the interesting characters who inhabit the land, is the backbone of the story—after meeting some of the locals, Conover was so captivated that he unsuspectingly began the journey of writing Cheap Land Colorado. Although most people Conover met attempted to simplify why they moved to a completely isolated part of America, I felt that it must have been a multitude of factors that led them to make the profound decision of living such a remote life. While most of the story takes place in the present, parts of the novel provide context behind the origins of the desolate land. This amalgamation allowed me to understand and grapple as to why some people came to call this area home.

Out of all the books that Conover has written, I found Cheap Land Colorado holds the title for being the second least enticing for me to go and experience myself—being a guard at Sing Sing prison takes the cake. This has nothing to do with the substance in the book—I would read a Conover publication about installing scaffolding—but instead it leans more towards what I find interest in and the excitement I can draw from it. Although I love being outdoors, I do identify as a city dweller (so does Conover), and I could not see myself enjoying the experience of living in a freezing trailer, surrounded by strangers, all while being dozens of miles from the nearest anything. And yes, I still hold Cheap Land Colorado above Conover’s first book, Rolling Nowhere, where he lived and traveled with Vagabonds in the 1980’s: at least there he was not stagnant, the tramps he lived with traversed the country on trains. Overall, Cheap Land Colorado maintained my commendation for Conover’s bibliography, you can catch me ordering whatever book he publishes next.