Under a Wild Sky
John James Audubon and the Making of The Birds of America

I guess I started with a preconception based on the Audubon name being used for a philanthropic environmental conservation organization. I expected him to be ahead of his time in this way. He was not. In fact his obsession with birds bled into cruelty towards them. I understand that he needed to kil......more

A well executed, concise biography about a man almost too big, too boundless to be portrayed to just 300 pages. Audubon was larger than life and his “The Birds of America” with its accompanying text is the most monumental achievement in American art/natural history. Almost 20 years in the making, th......more

I debated for a day whether to buy this book or the biography of Audubon that another author also published in 2004. I made the right choice. I'm sure the Richard Rhodes book also is quite fine, but Souder's was a pleasure to read. It was what's we've long called a page turner, although I read it on......more

Many know his name (Audubon clubs, societies, prints, etc.), but few know much about his life (1785-1851) except that he liked to draw birds. This book seeks to remedy that, and it does so admirably. In addition to being a consummate ornithologist and artist (largely self-taught), he was also, at va......more