“Theoretically diverse, the book explores the intersection of religion and spirituality from an innovative angle.”
“Worthwhile. . . . Honest”
“A solidly written and well researched piece of scholarship that relates Burning Man to current trends in contemporary alternative rituals and spirituality.”
“I highly recommend Gilmore’s study as an example of complicating the relationship between the secular and the sacred. This book is written in a very accessible and engaging style. . . . It is essential reading for anyone immersed in the study of religion and popular culture.”
"Gilmore's study brings new voices and experiences to current debates about religion versus spirituality through her richly textured descriptions of the characters, events, and spaces that make up the seemingly strange but culturally significant Burning Man festival. Readers will discover that Burning Man is a wonderful illustration of the dialectic between self and community at the heart of much of American religion today. Gilmore persuades us that those who trivialize this event by seeing it as a huge party, miss the ways in which Burning Man provides an unusual snapshot of diverse forms of American spiritual-seeking."—Sarah Pike, author of Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves: Contemporary Pagans and the Search for Community
"At the generative core of research in ritual studies is a balancing act: on the one hand, involved; on the other, distanced. On the one hand, committed; on the other, critical. On the one hand, attentively rooted in ethnographic details; on the other, broadly theorized. Theater in a Crowded Fire walks that tightrope with remarkable agility."—Ronald L. Grimes, author of Deeply into the Bone
