{{short description|American non-fiction writer (born 1945)}} '''Michael Lesy''' (born 1945) is an American non-fiction writer.<ref>[https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/lesy-michael-1945 Michael Lesy bio at Encyclopedia.com]</ref> His books, which combine historical photographs with original writing, include ''Wisconsin Death Trip'' (1973), ''Real Life: Louisville in the Twenties'' (1976), ''Bearing Witness: A Photographic Chronicle of American Life'' (1982), ''Visible Light'' (1985), ''Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties'' (2007), ''Repast: Dining Out at the Dawn of the New American Century'' (with Lisa Stoffer, 2013), ''Looking Backward: A Photographic Portrait of the World at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century'' (2017), and ''Snapshots 1971–77'' (September 2021).<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/Snapshots-1971-77-Michael-Lesy/dp/0922233500 ''Snapshots 1971–77'' at Amazon]</ref>
Lesy grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio.<ref name="Birnbaum">[http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/birnbaum125.php Birnbaum, Robert, Interview: Michael Lesy], ''Identity Theory'', September 16, 2003</ref> He received a B.A. in theoretical sociology from Columbia University, an M.A. in American social history from the University of Wisconsin, and a Ph.D. in American cultural history from Rutgers University.<ref name="Hampshire">[https://www.hampshire.edu/faculty/michael-lesy Hampshire College faculty page for Michael Lesy]</ref> He taught at Hampshire College, in Amherst, Massachusetts, from 1990 to 2020, and is a Hampshire emeritus professor of literary journalism.<ref name="Hampshire" />
''Wisconsin Death Trip'', Lesy's first book, was adapted into a film by James Marsh in 1999.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/01/movies/film-review-how-a-town-in-wisconsin-went-mad.html Holden, Stephen, "Film Review: How a Town In Wisconsin Went Mad"], ''The New York Times'', December 1, 1999</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/28/movies/a-record-of-despair-born-of-a-single-image.html Marcus, Greil, "A Record of Despair Born of a Single Image"], ''The New York Times'', November 28, 1999</ref> Ironically, Lesy explained in a 2003 interview, "I wanted to make it a movie. But it cost too much to produce. So it was just a poor man’s way of making a movie in book form."<ref name="Birnbaum" /> ''Wisconsin Death Trip'' was presented on the BBC documentary series ''Arena'' in 2000.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006pn88/broadcasts/2000/07 "Arena -Episodes by date"] on Arena series website</ref>
In 2006 the United States Artists Foundation named Lesy its first Simon Fellow.<ref name="United States Artists Foundation">United States Artists Foundation (2006) "[https://www.unitedstatesartists.org/fellow/9243 Michael Lesy]</ref> In 2013 Lesy was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for Photography Studies.<ref>[https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/michael-lesy/ Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship for Michael Lesy, 2013]</ref>
==Bibliography== {| class="wikitable" |- ! style="background:#b0c4de;"| Year ! style="background:#b0c4de;"| Title ! style="background:#b0c4de;"| Publisher |- | 1973 | ''Wisconsin Death Trip'' | Pantheon Books |- | 1976 | ''Real Life: Louisville in the Twenties'' | Pantheon Books |- | 1980 | ''Time Frames: The Meaning of Family Pictures'' | Pantheon Books |- | 1982 | ''Bearing Witness: A Photographic Chronicle of American Life'' | Pantheon Books |- | 1985 | ''Visible Light'' | Crown Publishing Group |- | 1987 | ''The Forbidden Zone'' | Farrar, Straus, and Giroux |- | 1991 | ''Rescues: The Lives of Heroes'' | Farrar, Straus, and Giroux |- | 1997 | ''Dreamland: America at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century'' | The New Press |- | 2002 | ''Long Time Coming: A Photographic Portrait of America, 1935-1943'' | W. W. Norton & Company |- | 2005 | ''Angel's World: The New York Photographs of Angelo Rizzuto'' | W. W. Norton & Company |- | 2007 | ''Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties'' | W. W. Norton & Company |- | 2013 | ''Repast: Dining Out at the Dawn of the New American Century'' (with Lisa Stoffer) | W. W. Norton & Company |- | 2017 | ''Looking Backward: A Photographic Portrait of the World at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century'' | W. W. Norton & Company |- | 2021 | ''Snapshots 1971–77'' (September 17 scheduled publication) | Blast Books |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Lesy, Michael}} Category:1945 births Category:American non-fiction writers Category:Living people Category:Columbia College, Columbia University alumni Category:Writers from Shaker Heights, Ohio Category:Rutgers University alumni Category: University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni