Little Red Barns: Hiding The Truth, From Farm To Fable

From award-winning journalist Will Potter,
author of Green Is the New Red:

A harrowing personal journey
investigating factory farms and fascism.

Named one of Publishers Weekly’s “most anticipated” current events books and a starred review!

Behind the little red barns dotting the landscape and decorating so many of the products we consume is a dangerous threat. This groundbreaking investigation exposes the powerful forces at work to hide the harms of industrial agriculture, its outsize role in the climate crisis, and its links to the global rise of fascism.

Little Red Barns is the record of a harrowing journey that took investigative journalist Will Potter from factory farms to international climate summits, from Congressional hearings to neo-Nazi fascist groups. As Potter uncovers the frightening truth about animal agriculture’s role in accelerating climate collapse, he shows how the authoritarian measures being taken to maintain control over this key aspect of the global food supply chain are directly linked to the proliferation and empowerment of far-right militias.

Confronting a maelstrom of disturbing information, he asks searching questions about a journalist’s role and the impact of bearing witness in a world in which we are bombarded with “news,” both real and faked.

You’ll uncover:

  • How corporations are outlawing journalism to keep you in the dark about your food

  • The hidden connections between factory farms, climate change, and fascism

  • What it means to bear witness and fight these dangerous trends

Reviews…

  • "...a fascinating, swirling meditation on law enforcement, rising authoritarianism, misinformation, climate change, and the global spread of ag-gag laws. Readers’ brains will also be broken."

    — Publisher’s Weekly STARRED REVIEW

  • “Little Red Barns is a sharp, eye-opening exposé of industrial agriculture and the forces of oppression converging to obfuscate the truth."

    — Foreword Reviews

What People Are Saying…

  • ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "We are in a fight for our lives against a rising authoritarian tide, and this clear-eyed, compelling, clarion call of a book has a message everyone needs to hear... No one is better positioned than Will Potter to connect the dots between fascism and factory farming, and he does so with energy, conviction, and incredible insight."

    — Astra Taylor, author of Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone

  • ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Will Potter is a fearless advocate of your right to know where your food comes from.”

    — Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation Now

  • ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Will Potter's eye-opening investigation into the hidden world of how we get our food should be read by all Americans–no matter their political persuasion. It shines a much-needed spotlight on those who have risked their lives to show the public the truth, often in the face of unconstitutional censorship. It is also a powerful testament to the importance of freedom of the press in holding the powerful to account."

    — Trevor Timm, executive director, Freedom of the Press Foundation

  • ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Little Red Barns is Will Potter's latest, unflinching appeal for an empathetic world. As he brings to the public consciousness hidden but normalized crimes, Potter shows vulnerability in also examining himself, taking us on his personal journey alongside an unlikely cast of frontline heroes..."

    — Anjan Sundaram, author of
    Stringer: A Reporter's Journey in the Congo

  • ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Masterful…In Little Red Barns, Will Potter ventures into territory that goes well beyond previous indictments of industrial animal farming. He tells a gripping personal story of how he immersed himself (sometimes literally) for years in the gut-wrenching realities of factory farming in America…Potter deftly works these many grim realities into a suspenseful page-turner."

    — Stan Cox, author of The Green New Deal and Beyond

  • ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Though the family farm has vanished from the land, devoured by agribusiness, it continues to lead a spectral existence–little red barn and all–in the fantasy world of advertising. Will Potter gives us a comprehensive account of how this epochal development took place…”

    — J.M. Coetzee, Nobel Laureate, 2003