Very unusual read for me - a "western" novel.The protagonist - a small-scale rancher named Charlie Flagg - tries to survive a multi-year west-Texas drought while refusing to participate in government relief programs. That's why it was recommended on one or two of the economics websites I follow.
The author was trying to tell a good story, not just make some points about government interventions in markets. And it was enjoyable - but a very easy read, probably too easy. I did like the way he addressed the relationship between the ranchers and workers who had crossed, or illegally were trying to cross, the border. Some of that resonated with current news.
He developed quite a number of characters, including his wife, the Mexican family that lived on the ranch and assisted with the work, his rodeo-crazed son (and rodeo-follower wife), other local ranchers, the government officials, etc.
Also addressed the hierarchy within the Hispanic groups - similar to Elizabeth Abbott's book about sugar (finished but not posted).
And it's a useful discussion about the manner in which government programs cause more problems than they solve; they become entrenched and almost impossible to shut down as coalitions coalesce around them; how politicians chase votes spending other people's money. That discussion certainly resonates approximately 40 years later.
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