A halfcentury of social change in America documented in the writings of Danny Lyon photographer and author of The Bikeriders and The Destruction of Lower ManhattanampampquotFrom the beginning even before he left the University of Chicago and headed south to take up a position as the first staff photographer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Danny Lyon dreamed of being an artist in language as well as in picturesampampquot writes Randy Kennedy in the introduction to American Blood. In 1961 at the age of 19 for example Lyon penned a brutally satirical article for a student mimeo magazine in which he argued for the deterrent power of primetime televised executions ampampquotthe show would open no doubt like a baseball game with a rendition of the National Anthemampampquot.Lyon is widely celebrated for his groundbreaking work in photography and film. Less recognized is the extensive body of writing that has broadened and reinforced his reach in both the pages of his own publications and in others as varied as the Los Angeles Times the New York Review of Books Aperture civil rights publications underground magazines and Lyons blog.This 400page volume spans republished and previously unpublished texts from nearly six decades of his career comprising a vast meticulously archived history of American social change.