From its anarchic early days to its present dreams of world domination, this is the untold story of Burning Man—the most popular, unique, and enduring countercultural event of recent times in which alternative lifestyle enthusiasts erect a giant statue and construct a temporary city to live in for about a week in the Nevada desert. Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world have made the dusty pilgrimage to Black Rock City to take part in this experiment in participatory art, gift culture, and bacchanalian celebration—and many say their lives were fundamentally changed by the experience. This current look at the expansion of the lifestyle reveals how in recent years Burning Man has taken on a new character, with the frontier becoming a real city and the many tribes of the event—the fire artists, circus freaks, music lovers, do-gooders, grungy builders, and myriad other burner collectives—developing a perennial presence in sister cities all over the world. Chronicling Burning Man’s renaissance years from 2004 to the present, this epic journey features some of the culture’s most inspiring and colorful leaders and is a search for meaning in the most unexpected places.

Steven T. Jones is the city editor for the San Francisco Bay Guardian and is the winner of numerous journalism awards from the National Newspaper Association, California Newspaper Publishers Association, Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, and the American Civil Liberties Union. He lives in San Francisco.

"From massive fire art to tiny gestures of kindness, Steve Jones surveys and captures from an insider's perspective."  —Brian Doherty, author, This Is Burning Man