American Blood

A provocative history of the United States told through blood.

Nothing arrests us like blood. It seizes our attention, commanding us to act when it oozes into the open. In its own distinctive fashion, American public life has been tinged red with blood, from the Civil War to John F. Kennedy’s assassination to the AIDS crisis.

American Blood reexamines key episodes in US history to reveal blood as a main actor and show how it has profoundly shaped our culture and politics through its troubling appearances. Zooming in on Jackie Kennedy’s red-stained suit or the biomedical bags of plasma unknowingly carrying the deadly HIV virus, we see that blood—as both symbol and substance—has the power to issue warnings, declare victimhood or martyrdom, articulate identity and belonging, and more.

Matthew Dennis offers a fresh interpretation of our past to argue that blood has done more than stain the nation’s history—it has helped direct it. Blood has proven its ability to convey critical messages with unique authority and intensity, and in this moment of rising political violence, Dennis urges us to pay attention to what it has to say.