The American Spectator

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ASIDE FROM SERVING as the first decent history of the festival, This Is Burning Man is an interesting piece of anthropology concerning how cultural phenomena affect their creators -- not always for the better.

The grandfather of Burning Man, Larry Harvey, used to say that the first event was the outgrowth of his misery of being jilted by an ex-girlfriend. By the time Doherty gets around to interviewing him, his head is floating somewhere out there in space and he insists he has created a brand-new medium for human interaction. Harvey says he doesn't want to be part of "counterculture history" but when asked about his vision for Burning Man, he begins, "We have to go beyond the valley of the groovy."

Another of the event organizers posits: "What is being alive? What is living? There's a chance you may die at Burning Man, but you will never be more alive." On its own, it's a harmless sentiment -- Jim Jones sans the Kool-Aid. Being in a piece of performance art or sitting in a drum circle with a bunch of stoners is not high up on my list of things I need to do on my last night on earth, but we've all got different hopes and aspirations.

Doherty's book has the feel of an Everything You've Always Wanted to Know About Burning Man But Were Afraid to Ask. Likely it will repel as many people from the festival as it attracts, but it's a good read either way. It's always good to know what you're missing.

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Books, Oil