Eye Scream

Work on Eye Scream started in 1986. I was crossing America constantly andexperiencing the morality shifts, attitudes, and rituals in different partsof the country - the difference in the way people were in the Bible Belt asopposed to New York City, the way blacks and whites interfaced, theintolerance of homosexuality, the morality plays. I started to become awareof how brutal the country is and how much ferocity, cruelty, and oppressionare inherent in the culture and how much of it was in me. I wanted todocument it and create a book that brought the whole thing to a boil and see where it left me off. In the summer of 1995, I finished the book and startedto edit. Re-reading the manuscript over and over, I realized all the things Ihad picked up over a decade of playing Devils advocate and it was inspiringbecause it clearly defined who my enemies are. As an American, I feel itimpossible not to be infuriated by the way things are and have been. I refuseto be happy about the day-to-day and go along with it. Theres too muchspitting in my face and too much spitting in the faces of people who dontknow any other way of life. This book is brutal, and at times, funny. I knowthat I will probably get a ton of shit for Eye Scream. Enjoy, or betteryet... dont. ---- Henry Rollins