The Audubon Reader: Edited and Introduced by Richard Rhodes

This unprecedented anthology of John James Audubon€s lively and colorful writings about the American wilderness reintroduces the great artist and ornithologist as an exceptional American writer, a predecessor to Thoreau, Emerson, and Melville.

Audubon€s award-winning biographer, Richard Rhodes, has gathered excerpts from his journals, letters, and published works, and has organized them to appeal to general readers. Rhodes€s unobtrusive commentary frames a wide range of selections, including Audubon€s vivid €œbird biographies,€ correspondence with his devoted wife, Lucy, journal accounts of dramatic river journeys and hunting trips with the Shawnee and Osage Indians, and a generous sampling of brief narrative episodes that have long been out of print€"engaging stories of pioneer life such as "The Great Pine Swamp," €œThe Earthquake,€ and €œKentucky Barbecue on the Fourth of July.€ Full-color reproductions of sixteen of Audubon€s stunning watercolor illustrations accompany the text.

The Audubon Reader allows us to experience Audubon€s distinctive voice directly and provides a window into his electrifying encounter with early America: with its wildlife and birds, its people, and its primordial wilderness.

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)