When Uncle Sam ordered Alfred and Charlie Fattig to answer the military draft during World War I, the brothers immediately grabbed their rifles. But not to march off to war. Conscientious objectors both, albeit lacking the formal education to fight induction, they retreated deep into southwest Oregon’s rugged mountains where they hid out for three years, feasting on everything from bear to squirrel. Their saga is one of survival in what is now the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, arguably one of the ruggedest areas in the contiguous United States.

Yet Madstone is more than a fascinating tale about two colorful draft dodgers a century ago. Southwest Oregon was a microcosm of rural America when the world was at war. Like most rural areas, the region was rife with young men eager to test their mettle in war. Patriotism was encouraged; pacifism was not.

During his more than 30 years of research for the book, the author interviewed numerous WWI veterans who talked about the war and life in the region. Readers will also meet an army of other characters, including a gungho young man who, while the brothers were in their mountain redoubt, would become celebrated as the first American soldier to fire a shot at the enemy during WWI.

Review

“Paul Fattig’s fascinating Madstone proves on a larger stage a fact long known to readers of his deep and varied journalism: that he is ‘an extraordinary teller of tales’...We owe Fattig a debt of gratitude...”

—Russell Working, journalist and short story writer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe and many others

“I read Madstone in one sitting...on a deeper level, the book describes the hard-scrabble hillbilly life that has shaped the outlook on life in many parts of this country...To anyone who wants to understand the polarization in our country today, Madstone is a must read.”

—Nancy Tappan, editor, The New Pioneer magazine

“...our history books are filled with ‘war heroes,’ but what we really need to see today, more than ever, is nonviolence and peace heroes: men and women who had and have the fortitude to say no to war and bloodshed. This intriguing story does just that. I highly recommend it.”

—Flamur Vehapi, author of Peace and Conflict Resolution in Islam

“...It’s a story about a different kind of heroism...set in the sprawling, loving family of Fattigs who grew up in southern Oregon when it was still a wilderness. And it’s a story well told by a master story teller, who in retirement is still a great reporter.”

—Edwin Battistella, professor of English at Southern Oregon University

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