Books

God’s Middle Finger: Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre 
Published by Free Press on March 4, 2008

 ”This is exactly the book you’re hoping for when you pick it up: a crazy, sprawling story so well-written, you can’t decide whether to keep reading or go to Mexico to see for yourself. Keep reading: You have an extraordinary book in your hands.”
— Sebastian Junger, author of The Perfect Storm 

“A reportorial tour de force, with a cast of characters straight out
of a Cormac McCarthy novel.”
— The New York Times

“Grant is the finest kind of travel narrator; though fully cognizant
of the dangers and foolhardiness of his obsession with this land, he
throws himself into crazy situations and narrates with unflappable
charm and humor.”
— Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)

“There is nothing here of the ‘I jumped over the puddle’ aspect of
modern adventure stories. As an Englishman, Grant has far too much of
the mad dog in his character, and I am surprised indeed that he
survived his journey. This is a thoroughly enlivening book, the rare
kind that makes you want to sleep with the pistol under your pillow.”
— Jim Harrison, author of Legends of the Fall and Returning to Earth

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This book is sold in the UK as Bandit Roads: Into the Lawless Heart of Mexico.
Purchase “Bandit Roads” from amazon.co.uk

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American Nomads: Travels with Lost Conquistadors, Mountain Men, Cowboys, Indians, Hoboes, Truckers, and Bullriders
Published by Grove Press on January 7, 2005

Grant, an English writer who has written for GQ and Esquire, has penned a travelogue par excellence, cloaked in the robes of a sociological examination of the American nomad. Resolved to leave his own sedentary life, the author spends time with an assortment of truckers, rodeo cowboys, RV-ers, and wanna-be Indians (usually white computer geeks looking for escape). [...] This is a wondrous essay, documenting a style of life that eschews government authority–property taxes, drug laws, gun laws, nudity laws, truancy laws, and sexual age-of-consent laws. For all the problems inherent in such a lifestyle, readers may still fantasize about what life could be like away from the rat race.
— Allen Weakland for Booklist

On the Road. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Leaves of Grass. Walden. Melville’s Mardi. Junky. Anything by Allen Ginsberg, Frank O’Hara, Ken Kesey or Dr Timothy Leary. Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”. Even, say, Toby Litt’s Beatniks. If you enjoyed any of these, you will probably enjoy Richard Grant’s Ghost Riders: Travels With American Nomads.
— The Guardian (UK)

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This book is sold in the UK as Ghost Riders: Travels with American Nomads, where it was the winner of the 2004 Thomas Cook Travel Literature Award.
Purchase “Ghost Riders” from Amazon.co.uk