Hard to believe summer is gone. I love to read, but usually find truth stranger than fiction and thus stick to nonfiction. But this summer I read Michael Milligan's The Pine Field Killing, which is fiction imitating truth. It's about the terrorist next door, not the ones ambushing U.S. soldiers in Iraq. On Sept. 11, 2001, when America was attacked, Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) were also taking credit for the burning of a McDonald's in Tucson.
     This activity is increasing. Recently, two pipe bomb explosions at an Emerville biotechnology firm illustrate the danger of homegrown animal rights terrorism. This followed the torching of an apartment building under construction in San Diego and the trashing of more than 100 Hummers and other SUVs in Los Angeles, Santa Cruz and the Bay area. These groups flooded a foie gras specialty food store in Sonoma and vandalized the house and car of a San Francisco chef who served foie gras.
     But returning to Milligan's first book, my wife reads fiction daily and said she was as excited about this writer as when reading Steve Martini's first novel. I haven't read Martini, but anyone who has been in agriculture won't be able to put down this book. One reason is that the author was an investigative journalist for the San Diego Street Journal and Ramparts magazine, but is trained in horticulture and forestry. He farmed for two decades, spending much of his time running a Christmas tree farm near Los Angeles. Milligan teaches modern agriculture while revealing how activists infiltrate, manipulate and resort to violence.
     Ironically, the crackdown after Sept. 11 is increasing violence by domestic groups. This is because animal rights advocates say that it has become difficult to conduct peaceful demonstrations. "There has been a huge crackdown on anyone who dissents," Kevin Jonas, leader of Stop Huntingdom Animal Cruelty, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
     Various sources have alleged that both PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) have personal and financial ties to the Animal Liberation Front. "My goal is the abolition of all animal agriculture," says HSUS grassroots coordinator John J.P. Goodwin. Rick Berman of the Center for Consumer Freedom told Congress that between 1994 and 1995, "People for the Ethical Treatment of animals gave over $70,000 to Animal Liberation Front's Rodney Coronad." In addition, both PETA and its president are acknowledged financial supporters of No Compromise, an "underground" supporter of ALF.

But I recommend Milligan's fiction over reality. It's available by clicking the Order Now button above.