Burning Nation

Burning Nation by Trent Reedy, 417 pages

Idaho has declared its independence from the United States.  The Idaho National Guard and many volunteers are fighting the entire U.S. armed forces.  Danny, who has been at the heart of the trouble since it began knows that if Idaho loses this fight he will probably go to jail for the rest of his life, if he isn't executed, but more importantly, he believes that the federal government has overstepped its bounds and is infringing on states' rights.  His goal is to keep everyone else he loves safe and to do his best to make sure that Idaho wins the Second Civil War.  I mostly like this book but I'm having a hard time personally rooting for the protagonist.  I have a really hard time rooting for someone who is fighting for a state to secede from the union.  Also, the war part is pretty graphic and I'm having a hard time with that too.  However, I think this book would have a lot of appeal to a lot of teen boys.