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

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

by Nancy Plain · 2015

+ Want to read

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 Americadepicts 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.

Read more

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 Wildernessdetails his art and writing, transporting the reader back to the frontiers of early nineteenth-century America.

Subject
biographybiographyMore like thisLess of thishistoryhistoryMore like thisLess of thissciencescienceMore like thisLess of this
Genre
historical fictionhistorical fictionMore like thisLess of this
Themes
artartMore like thisLess of thisnaturenatureMore like thisLess of thisanimalsanimalsMore like thisLess of thisbirdsbirdsMore like thisLess of thisAmerican historyAmerican historyMore like thisLess of this
Setting
USAUSAMore like thisLess of this
Audience
young adultchildrensmiddle gradeadult
Length
short · 136 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

BuyAmazonGoogle Books

BorrowOpen LibraryA library near you

MoreCompare pricesHardcover

Liked This Strange Wilderness: The Life and Art of John James Audubon? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked This Strange Wilderness: The Life and Art of John James Audubon. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Wideness and Wonder: The Life and Art of Georgia O'Keeffe Susan Goldman Rubin · 2010 Shares biography, nonfiction, art
  2. The Seuss, the Whole Seuss and Nothing But the Seuss: A Visual Biography of Theodor Seuss Geisel Charles D. Cohen · 2004 Shares nonfiction, biography, art
  3. First Flight Around the World: The Adventures of the American Fliers Who Won the Race Tim Grove, National Air and Space Museum · 2015 Shares nonfiction, young adult, middle grade
  4. Becoming Ben Franklin: How a Candle-Maker's Son Helped Light the Flame of Liberty Russell Freedman · 2013 Shares nonfiction, biography, young adult
See more recommendations →

“People who read This Strange Wilderness: The Life and Art of John James Audubon tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War Steve Sheinkin · 2015
  2. The Tapir Scientist: Saving South America's Largest Mammal Sy Montgomery, Nic Bishop · 2013
  3. Pure Grit: How WWII Nurses in the Pacific Survived Combat and Prison Camp Mary Cronk Farrell · 2014
  4. A Volcano Beneath the Snow: John Brown's War Against Slavery Albert Marrin · 2014

“If you want more of the same (biography about art), start with these.”

  1. LIFE Remembering Marilyn · 2009
  2. Go Big or Go Home: Taking Risks in Life, Love, and Tattooing Kat Von D. · 2013
  3. The Tattoo Chronicles Kat Von D., Sandra Bark · 2010
  4. Sargent's Women: Four Lives Behind the Canvas Donna M. Lucey · 2017

“If it was the art that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. There's a Mystery There: The Primal Vision of Maurice Sendak Jonathan Cott
  2. Chanel: Her Style and Her Life Janet Wallach · 1998
  3. The Strange Case of Edward Gorey Alexander Theroux · 2000
  4. American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell Deborah Solomon · 2013

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. John James Audubon Richard Rhodes · 2004
  2. Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of The Birds of America William Souder · 2004
  3. The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon Jacqueline Davies · 2004
  4. James Fenimore Cooper: Five Novels James Fenimore Cooper · 1827

Report a problem