This Strange Wilderness: The Life and Art of John James Audubon

Birds were "the objects of my greatest delight," wrote John James Audubon (1785-1851), founder of modern ornithology and one of the world's greatest bird painters. His masterpiece, The Birds of America depicts almost five hundred North American bird species, each image--lifelike and life size--rendered in vibrant color. Audubon was also an explorer, a woodsman, a hunter, an entertaining and prolific writer, and an energetic self-promoter. Through talent and dogged determination, he rose from backwoods obscurity to international fame.

In This Strange Wilderness, award-winning author Nancy Plain brings together the amazing story of this American icon's career and the beautiful images that are his legacy. Before Audubon, no one had seen, drawn, or written so much about the animals of this largely uncharted young country. Aware that the wilderness and its wildlife were changing even as he watched, Audubon remained committed almost to the end of his life "to search out the things which have been hidden since the creation of this wondrous world." This Strange Wilderness details his art and writing, transporting the reader back to the frontiers of early nineteenth-century America.

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Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Published: 03/01/2015
ISBN: 9780803248847
Pages: 136
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 9.08h x 7.10w x 0.36d
Award: National Outdoor Book Awards - Winner
Award: Moonbeam Children's Book Award - Gold Medal Winner

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 01/15/2015
Booklist 04/01/2015 pg. 35
School Library Journal 05/01/2015 pg. 141
Booklist Ed Choice Youth 01/01/2016 pg. 12