{"product_id":"picnic-in-the-ruins-9781640093225","title":"Picnic in the Ruins","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart mystery; part quirky, darkly funny, mayhem-filled thriller; and part meditation on what it means to 'own' land, artifacts, and the narrative of history in the West . . . A fast-paced, highly entertaining hybrid of Tony Hillerman and Edward Abbey. --\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAnthropologist Sophia Shepard is researching the impact of tourism on cultural sites in a remote national monument on the Utah-Arizona border when she crosses paths with two small-time criminals. The Ashdown brothers were hired to steal maps from a collector of Native American artifacts, but their ineptitude has alerted the local sheriff to their presence. Their employer, a former lobbyist seeking lucrative monument land that may soon be open to energy exploration, sends a fixer to clean up their mess. Suddenly, Sophia must put her theories to the test in the real world, and the stakes are higher than she could have ever imagined. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhat begins as a madcap caper across the RV-strewn vacation lands of southern Utah becomes a meditation on mythology, authenticity, the ethics of preservation, and one nagging question: Who owns the past?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Counterpoint LLC\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/05\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781640093225\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 352","brand":"Todd Robert Petersen","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":38028103647413,"sku":"9781640093225","price":14.41,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_2f7ddcbc-4d21-48fd-bf6d-d0908f16a6d6.jpg?v=1609194544","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/picnic-in-the-ruins-9781640093225","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}