“The thing that was frustrating was many people were making quick assumptions, but they didn’t understand, and I didn’t understand, clearly how (the Bundys and their supporters) got to believe what they believe,” she said. So she spent a good portion of three years conducting interviews with Cliven and his son and many others, diving deep into why the Nevada and Oregon incidents happened.

“It’s very public lands-focused, especially in the first season,” Sottile explained. “I think that when you have so much of the land of the West that is managed by the federal government, and people are reliant on extractive industries for their jobs, I think just this combination of federal government with like the multiple uses on federal lands is where a lot of the Bundy discontent starts.”

The western U.S. has attracted many people who don’t appreciate federal management or environmental regulations or user-fees for public lands, she noted.