John James Audubon

The biography traces the life of a naturalist and artist from a confused, international childhood and indulgent upbringing through a series of failed business ventures to a lifelong devotion to observing, drawing, and publishing North American birds and mammals. It recounts arduous fieldwork, extensive travels in the United States and Europe, experiments in taxidermy and painting, the scope and publication of major illustrated works, personal quirks such as unreliable dates and a romantic temperament, and the support of a devoted wife; it emphasizes both hardships and eventual recognition and financial rewards earned late in life.