Review of The Crazies: The Cattleman, the Wind Prospector, and a War Out West Review by Amy Gamerman rating ****
The Crazies refers to a unique island mountain range in Montana known as the Crazy Mountains. Locals call them “the Crazies.” The origin of the name is debated — one theory ties it to a frontier-era tale of a woman who lost her family in a massacre and went mad. Others point to the crazy appearance of the mountains jutting upward from the plains. For this story, the mountains serve as a symbolic backdrop for a modern-day conflict over land, identity, and the rights of individual property owners.
My interest in the book was the legal battle between one struggling rancher and his neighbors. Rick Jorett, owner of a small ranch barely staying afloat, was approached by wind‑energy consultant Marty Zeller, who had spent years monitoring wind patterns flowing off the Crazy Mountains. Zeller’s research showed that Jorett’s land was ideally positioned to harness the powerful downslope winds that spill over, through, and down the range. But there was a problem: Jorett’s modest ranch was surrounded by several much larger ranches whose owners did not want their views of the Crazies interrupted by towering wind turbines. Thus began a legal struggle that dragged on for years.
The author devotes a major section of the book to the key players in the dispute: the ranchers, Zeller, the lawyers, the county officials — including Doyle Strong, a Crow descendant serving on the Sweet Grass County Planning Board — and the families whose lives were shaped by the conflict. She also provides background on wind farms, green energy, and the role politics — local and national — play in determining which projects move forward and which die on the vine.
At its core, the fight comes down to Jorett’s right to use his property to generate income versus his neighbors’ desire to preserve the enjoyment of their own land, which for them meant unobstructed views and silence.
The loudest opponent of the wind farm is Russell Gordy, a Texas oil‑and‑gas billionaire. Gordy’s story of how he built his fortune is colorful — not unlike that of Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys. Both men struck it rich thanks to a handful of prodigious oil wells. My feelings toward Gordy were ambivalent. The more I learned about his immense wealth and how he treated some of his employees, the less I liked him. I also didn’t like the callous indifference he had when it came to the environmental impact of oil and gas drilling while at the same time wanting to keep his own property pristine. But author Amy Gamerman also highlights the philanthropy he and his wife support, especially children’s medical causes, which gives him dimension and makes him a more complicated, human figure.
While the background material is necessary to understand the complexities of the case, it does drag at times. The most compelling section of the book is the final chapters, where the arguments for and against the wind farm are presented before a judge.
The claim that windmills would diminish property values and enjoyment was weak. Most of the wealthy ranch owners lived there only part‑time. Photoshopped images showed that views of the mountains would be only minimally affected. And no one lived close enough to the proposed turbines for noise to be an issue. Opponents leaned heavily on other arguments — harm to birds, especially eagles, and damage to roads from heavy equipment.
The lawyer representing Jorett and another rancher who supported the project dismantled each argument: more birds die from lead poisoning than windmills; denying the project would cause real financial harm to Jorett, who needed the income to survive. It wasn’t a murder trial — the stakes were not that high. It wasn’t even a trial; it was a hearing over a possible injunction. In the end, everything came down to one judge’s decision.
The book was released last year, but it doesn’t address recent innovations in wind technology. For example, bird deaths can be drastically reduced by painting one turbine blade black. And new vertical‑axis wind turbines eliminate blades entirely, harnessing wind in a quieter, less obtrusive, and more efficient way.
While the legal case itself was not life or death, several of the central figures in the story do not live to see its outcome.