The life and times of the New Journalism exponent behind The Bikeriders and Conversations with the Dead
This picaresque memoir dives into the heart of the revolutionary 20th century through the lens of one of its most crucial witnesses, American photographer and filmmaker Danny Lyon. His story begins in the Czar-ruled Russia of 1905, when Lyon’s uncle Abram fled to Brooklyn after his involvement in the murder of a policeman during a pogrom. A few decades later, amid the upheaval of World War II, Lyon was born. Presaged by this beginning, Lyon’s life has overseen adventures and tragedies of world-historical proportions. This Is My Life I’m Talking About recounts them in generous detail, from Lyon’s friendship with the great American civil rights hero John Lewis—who is best known for his chairmanship of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee—to his involvement with the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club, upon which his famous photojournalist work The Bikeriders (1968) was based. Throughout, Lyon writes with tremendous feeling and humor, and his text is accompanied by a selection of unpublished and unseen photographs. An early exponent of New Journalism, Danny Lyon (born 1942) is one of the most influential documentary photographers of the last six decades. While still a student at the University of Chicago, he was jailed in the South and became the first staff photographer of the SNCC. He went on to publish the seminal photobooks The Bikeriders and Conversations with the Dead (1971), an interrogation of the Texas prison system. Later in life, he pivoted to filmmaking, partnering with Robert Frank.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
AnOther
Miss Rosen
A picaresque memoir that reveals his natural gifts for storytelling. Like his photographs, Lyon’s prose is electric, poetic, and filled with explosive details, bringing readers into the middle of the action before roaring off to the next episode. The stories move with the same intense pace with which he worked, crisscrossing the country on his red Triumph motorcycle during the 1960s.
Hyperallergic
Julia Curl
Lyon was an important figure in the rise of New Journalism, which combined the immersive methods of investigative reporting with the author’s distinct perspective and voice. His autobiography shows this in action. Rather than aspiring to detached objectivity, Danny Lyon truly lived what he shot, wielding the camera as both a shield and a weapon.
The Wall Street Journal
Angelina Torre
Idiosyncrasies color Mr. Lyon’s unfiltered account of a life spent photographing this revolutionary period of our nation’s history.
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Tuesday, April 30 at 6:30 PM, Photobook Austin will host American photographer Danny Lyon in conversation with Bryan Schutmaat on the topic of Lyon's new book, This Is My Life I’m Talking About, published by Damiani. Book signing to follow. This is a free-entry event at the Austin Community College Highland Campus, but you must RSVP here to ensure entry, as seats are limited. continue to blog
Featured image is reproduced from noted American photographer Danny Lyon's new memoir, This Is My Life I’m Talking About, releasing this week from Damiani and launching in New York with a signing at Mast Books. Lyon is of course noted for his New Journalism style documentation of the civil rights movement, the Chicago Outlaw Motorcycle Club, the Texas prison system, and much more. He captions this image, which is from the body of work that became his iconic 1967 photobook The Bikeriders (set to release this summer as a major motion picture), with typical affection. “Cal, born in Canada as Arthur Dion, riding with Little Barbara. Cal, a former Hells Angel from San Bernadino, is my best friend in the Outlaws. In my Hyde Park apartment, he narrated many of the stories that became the text of the book. In the film Cal is played by Boyd Holbrook. A housepainter, Cal fell off a ladder and died in the 1980s.” continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 6.5 x 9 in. / 224 pgs / 40 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $49.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $71.95 ISBN: 9788862088091 PUBLISHER: Damiani AVAILABLE: 4/30/2024 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA LA
The life and times of the New Journalism exponent behind The Bikeriders and Conversations with the Dead
This picaresque memoir dives into the heart of the revolutionary 20th century through the lens of one of its most crucial witnesses, American photographer and filmmaker Danny Lyon. His story begins in the Czar-ruled Russia of 1905, when Lyon’s uncle Abram fled to Brooklyn after his involvement in the murder of a policeman during a pogrom. A few decades later, amid the upheaval of World War II, Lyon was born.
Presaged by this beginning, Lyon’s life has overseen adventures and tragedies of world-historical proportions. This Is My Life I’m Talking About recounts them in generous detail, from Lyon’s friendship with the great American civil rights hero John Lewis—who is best known for his chairmanship of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee—to his involvement with the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club, upon which his famous photojournalist work The Bikeriders (1968) was based. Throughout, Lyon writes with tremendous feeling and humor, and his text is accompanied by a selection of unpublished and unseen photographs.
An early exponent of New Journalism, Danny Lyon (born 1942) is one of the most influential documentary photographers of the last six decades. While still a student at the University of Chicago, he was jailed in the South and became the first staff photographer of the SNCC. He went on to publish the seminal photobooks The Bikeriders and Conversations with the Dead (1971), an interrogation of the Texas prison system. Later in life, he pivoted to filmmaking, partnering with Robert Frank.
