American Alt
A True Story of Madness and Friendship in a Fractured Country
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American Alt
Narrated by:
John Chancer, Todd Kramer
Pre-order for $20.56
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Narrated by:
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John Chancer
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Todd Kramer
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By:
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Chris Lockhart
"A mesmerizing, compassionate, and deeply meaningful exploration of a perilous corridor of American life." - Robert Kolker, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Hidden Valley Road
Named a Best Summer Read by The Los Angeles Times
On the eve of January 6, 2021, Michael Dodd and his three friends found themselves in a stolen vehicle on the grounds of the Washington State Capitol, armed to the teeth, and ready to kidnap Governor Jay Inslee. Only there weren’t actually three others in the car—Michael was alone. Months later, the violent plan thwarted, Michael sat in a psychiatric hospital and learned that he was struggling with undiagnosed schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder. His knowledge of that fateful day was spotty, fractured by the different personality states he now knew were affecting his reality. Skeptical of a state mental health system, but anxious to find out how his world turned upside down, he reached out to a longtime friend, the author Chris Lockhart, for help.
American Alt is the odyssey of two friends trying to piece together the fragments of Michael’s shattered memory and uncover the truth of what pushed him to the edge. Set against the beautiful but economically fractured Pacific Northwest where both men rambled in their youth, Lockhart delivers a suspenseful, profoundly moving story of discovery and affirmation.©2026 Chris Lockhart (P)2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
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Critic reviews
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)
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.
[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.
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.
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.
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