John James Audubon

One great naturalist tells the story of another. John Burroughs, America's beloved nature essayist, traces the improbable life of John James Audubon: the young dandy who failed at business, wandered the frontier with gun and paintbrush, and staked everything on a mad dream of painting every bird in America. Shipwrecks of fortune, London triumphs, and the wild rivers of the early republic all pass through this compact, affectionate biography. It is the story of art made from wilderness. Meet the man behind the birds.