John James Audubon: The Making of an American
by Richard Rhodes
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Book Summary Information
Author: Richard RhodesEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Deckle Edge
Published: 2004-10-12
ISBN: 0375414126
Number of pages: 528
Publisher: Knopf
Book Reviews of John James Audubon: The Making of an American
Book Review: Rich but poorly focused biography, short on natural history
Summary: 3 Stars
When I saw that Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Rhodes had written a new biography of John James Audubon, I rushed to acquire it, knowing that Rhodes had a solid reputation as a good writer and a thorough historian. While this latest book by Rhodes is certainly rich in biographical detail and presents a full picture of its subject, it is somewhat disappointing insofar as it gives relatively limited attention to what made Audubon famous-his interest and talent in natural history, particularly birds.
Rhodes describes the crucial events in Audubon's life very thoroughly, digging into primary documents quite ably and portraying his subject in a way that is bound to leave any reader with a full understanding of Audubon the man and his relationship with the key players in his life, including his long-suffering wife and two talented sons. But he devotes far more attention to the earliest part of Audubon's life than he does to the artist's final years. This is especially frustrating because Audubon's early life was beset with failures in business ventures that are really not that interesting or important to understanding the man, and the final years of his life included a pioneering trip up the Missouri River to the Yellowstone country, collecting mammals for his last published work.
The most striking weakness of the book is Rhodes's limited knowledge of birds. It is perhaps because of this deficit in the author's background that he devotes relatively little attention to the avian species which Audubon discovered and was the first to paint. While Rhodes states that he plans to include the modern names of bird species in parentheses after the archaic names from Audubon's time for those species where this is warranted, he does so inconsistently. He also shows little appreciation for the differing distribution of birds in Audubon's time-missing the significance, for example, of white pelicans as common birds on the Ohio River, which has not been the case for a century and more. He also never points out that a number of Audubon's contemporaries gave their surnames to a number of species-including Bachman, Bonaparte, Say, Swainson, and Traill. Having had the manuscript of the book reviewed by one or more ornithologists would have helped overcome many of these deficits.
Having pointed out this weakness, it is only fair for me to note that Rhodes does show an unusual appreciation for Audubon's artistry and artistic technique which is illuminating for the reader. The book would have benefited from a sharper editing, however, to reduce its length, since it is rather laborious reading. It would also have caught some glaring errors--such as stating that on the trip to Yellowstone, Audubon travelled from Baltimore to Cumberland, KY, then to Wheeling, WV, and Louisville. (Obviously, he went from Baltimore to Cumberland, MD, then to Wheeling.)
Summary of John James Audubon: The Making of an American
From the Pulitzer Prize?winning historian Richard Rhodes, the first major biography of John James Audubon in forty years, and the first to illuminate fully the private and family life of the master illustrator of the natural world.Rhodes shows us young Audubon arriving in New York from France in 1803, his illegitimacy a painful secret, speaking no English but already drawing and observing birds. We see him falling in love, marrying the wellborn English girl next door, crossing the Appalachians to frontier Kentucky to start a new life, fashioning himself into an American just as his adopted country was finding its identity.
Here is Audubon exploring the wilderness of birds?pelicans wading the shallows of interior rivers, songbirds flocking, passenger pigeons darkening the skies?and teaching himself to revivify them in glorious life-size images. Now he finds his calling: to take his hundreds of watercolor drawings to England to be engraved in a great multivolume work called The Birds of America. Within weeks of his arrival there in 1826, he achieves remarkable celebrity as ?the American Woodsman.? He publishes his major work as well as five volumes of bird biographies enhanced by his authentic descriptions of pioneer American life.
Audubon?s story is an artist?s story but also a moving love story. In his day, communications by letter across the ocean were so slow and uncertain that John James and his wife, Lucy, almost lost each other in the three years when the Atlantic separated them?until he crossed the Atlantic and half the American continent to claim her. Their letters during this time are intimate, moving, and painful, and they attest to an enduring love.
We examine Audubon?s legacy of inspired observation?the sonorities of a wilderness now lost, the brash life of a new nation just inventing itself?precisely, truthfully, lyrically captured. And we see Audubon in the fullness of his years, made rich by his magnificent work, winning public honor: embraced by writers and scientists, fêted by presidents and royalty.
Here is a revelation of Audubon as the major American artist he is. And here he emerges for the first time in his full humanity?handsome, charming, volatile, ambitious, loving, canny, immensely energetic. Richard Rhodes has given us an indispensable portrait of a true American icon.
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