This Is Burning Man : The Rise of a New American Underground

A provocative look at the extraordinary annual Burning Man festivalheld each year before Labor Day, and drawing thousands of people from all walks of life to the forbidding Black Rock Desert in Nevadaspotlights the radically self-reliant and vibrantly creative community that gathers for a week-long stay that culminates in the burning of a symbolic wooden man. The glamorous and anarchic aspects of the makeshift cityideas that are at once ingenious and unimaginable in normal societyinclude a three-story temple composed of discarded dinosaur puzzle pieces, a giant flame-spewing metal-lotus flower, and a glowing white whale sailing over the starry desert sky. The magnificent spirit of a festival where money and spectators are not allowed is captured here, bringing a piece of the whimsical, strange, and enlightened energy to those who've never participated as well as to veterans wishing to reminisce.

Brian Doherty is the senior editor of Reason magazine. His articles have been published in Los Angeles Times, Mother Jones, Spin, and Washington Post. He lives in Los Angeles.