Delusions and Grandeur: Dreamers of the New West

Shortlisted for the 2026 Reading The West Book Award in Memoir/Biography Longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay From the author of bestseller The Man Who Quit Money, this collection of personal essays recounts 20 years of Mark Sundeen's gonzo journalism, political activism, and steadfast humanism in the modern American West.In these new and selected essays, Mark Sundeen recounts two decades of political activism, outdoor exploration, and empathetic curiosity. He was both witness to and active participant in pivotal cultural and political events of the new millennium, from Howard Dean’s presidential campaign to the Iraq War protests and the NoDAPL uprising in Standing Rock. But what brings these large phenomena into humanistic focus is the cast of idiosyncratic people he meets. Using first-person reportage, well-crafted storytelling, and wry, self-deprecating humor, Sundeen’s keen observations illustrate what everyday life is like for people in the contemporary American West, with all their systemic precarities and individual triumphs. Read more