American Alt

Lockhart explores themes of mental illness, conspiracy theories and trauma with intelligence and compassion, and his writing is first-rate. This is a sometimes-chilling book, but — in this particularly fraught moment in American history — an absolutely vital one. – Michael Schaub * Los Angeles Times, “Best of the Summer 2026” *
This beautifully written book works on many levels, speaks eloquently and at times mournfully about what America has become in the first decades of the twenty-first century, how easily people and entire regions are abandoned and forgotten. But it also stands as a paean to the reparative power of nature, big skies, trees and rivers. Ultimately, American Alt testifies to how much we all need someone to lean on in this chaotic and often brutal world. * California Review of Books *
A humane and humanizing account of a therapeutic friendship…among the book’s greatest achievements is treating a complicated mental illness with compassion and understanding. * Bowling Green Daily News *
Both Michael’s story and its unfolding are filled with poignant moments and wry observations…This moving examination of reality, selfhood, and storytelling is compelling and will stick with readers long afterward. * Library Journal *
Extraordinary … Most potently, the book is a moving portrait of rekindled camaraderie based on mutual empathy. It’s an exceptional exploration of mental illness and friendship in the wreckage of American decline. * Publishers Weekly, Starred Review *
[Michael] Dodd found the perfect chronicler of his story in his friend [Chris] Lockhart. American Alt indelibly explores Lockhart and Dodd’s attempts to unravel the missing pieces in Dodd’s brilliant but disordered mind, an often heart-rending journey with significant revelations for both men. This is an unforgettable and stirring read for our fractured times. * Booklist *
Trauma and fractured perception can shape delusion. This creative-nonfiction book explores the mind of a conspiracy theorist with dissociative identity disorder and schizophrenia. Lockhart’s longtime friend Michael Dodd had been parked outside the state capitol with guns, planning to kidnap the governor. Lockhart helps Dodd tell his story and address his memory loss (experienced while switching between personas, or “alters”), which returns the latter to reality. * Alta Journal, “Best of July” *
Chris Lockhart’s American Alt is a mesmerizing, compassionate, and deeply meaningful exploration of a perilous corridor of American life. By recounting the story of a friend whose mental illness brought him to the brink of conspiracy-fueled violence, Lockhart discovers hidden truths in his own story—and in the way many of us live now. * Robert Kolker, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller HIDDEN VALLEY ROAD *
A triumph of character and place, American Alt goes where few books dare: deep into the fractured psyche of the American west. It’s a bold, unflinching study of individual, collective, and environmental trauma written with the page-turning lucidity of a thriller. * Maxim Loskutoff, author of OLD KING and COME WEST AND SEE *

Chris Lockhart has a Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology from the University of California San Francisco and Berkeley and is the coauthor of Tupa Tjipombo’s memoir, I Am Not Your Slave. He is the co-author with Daniel Mulilo Chama of Walking the Bowl: A True Story of Murder and Survival Among the Street Children of Lusaka, a New York Times notable book and NPR Best of the Year. He grew up in the South Puget Sound Region of Western Washington and continues to live part time there.

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