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Frank Lloyd Wright
The widely admired biographer of Bernard Berenson (“A triumph”—Washington Post; “A perfect riot”—Michael Holroyd; “Astonishing”—London Sunday Times) and of Kenneth Clark (“Splendid, enthralling”—The Wall Street Journal) gives us now a complete and complex portrait of an American titan, Frank Lloyd Wright.
Meryle Secrest shows us Frank Lloyd Wright in full scale—the brilliant, outrageous, fascinating man; the giant who changed modern architecture; the standard-bearer for the new, quintessentially American vision, the artist who never, during a seventy-year career, abandoned his principles of design; the radical, the Bohemian—the visionary who was one of the central figures of the twentieth-century American culture, society and politics.
Meryle Secrest is the first biographer to have full access to the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives. Her life of the architect, more than five years’ work and illustrated with 121 photographs, is a stunning feat of biographical narrative, sustained analysis and compassionate insight. With her extraordinary grasp of the man and his art, she gives us Frank Lloyd Wright close up—a creature of boundless energy and indomitable appetite for experience, a man whose limitless belief in his own rightness carried him through bankruptcy, arrest, fire, divorce, and years of social ostracism. A riveting portrait of a genius.
Meryle Secrest shows us Frank Lloyd Wright in full scale—the brilliant, outrageous, fascinating man; the giant who changed modern architecture; the standard-bearer for the new, quintessentially American vision, the artist who never, during a seventy-year career, abandoned his principles of design; the radical, the Bohemian—the visionary who was one of the central figures of the twentieth-century American culture, society and politics.
Meryle Secrest is the first biographer to have full access to the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives. Her life of the architect, more than five years’ work and illustrated with 121 photographs, is a stunning feat of biographical narrative, sustained analysis and compassionate insight. With her extraordinary grasp of the man and his art, she gives us Frank Lloyd Wright close up—a creature of boundless energy and indomitable appetite for experience, a man whose limitless belief in his own rightness carried him through bankruptcy, arrest, fire, divorce, and years of social ostracism. A riveting portrait of a genius.
657 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1992
About the author
Meryle Secrest
29 books33 followersMeryle Secrest was born and educated in Bath, England, and lives in Washington, DC. She is the author of twelve biographies and was awarded the 2006 Presidential National Humanities Medal.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
November 19, 2015
I set out to read just one book about F LL Wright to gain knowledge of his career and life. After reading reviews of different books, I decided to go with this straight shooting biography. There are many books about his designs, and we had visited his first home and studio in Oak Park last summer, so I was looking for something to offset that.
I was NOT disappointed. This book, in addition to following the development of his designs and career, also has many of the messier, cruder details, starting with the roots of his family (which gives the book a bit of a slow start), his father the spendthrift itinerant preacher, the overbearing love of his mother, the development of his embattled loner/misunderstood genius aura, his shoestring budgets, the Welsh hatred of the English, the derivative designs and moon-lighting, the early successes, the gathering of wealthy patrons, the theater fire, the flight of fancy, the scandal, the horrible murder, the trips to Japan, the dogged wrath of his third spouse scorned, the hearings and arrests, the opposition to war, and the investigations, but also the roots of his ideas, their development over time, his failures and his brilliant inspirations.
In addition to all of that, the book also describes his difficult interaction with his clients, including the unyielding will of the designer, the last minutes sketches, the leaky roofs, the faulty wiring, inflexible interiors, and, naturally, the budget overruns. And finally you also find the childish jealousies, the scathing insults, the bragadocio, the endless grudges, the begging for money, the blatant manipulations, the impulsive spending, the emotional outbursts, and the ridiculous stunts … But this stuff is not separated by type as I have just done; it is all mixed together following a rough chronological order, as it would be if you were seeing it in real time. All in all, this is a very revealing, very informative, fun read.
I was NOT disappointed. This book, in addition to following the development of his designs and career, also has many of the messier, cruder details, starting with the roots of his family (which gives the book a bit of a slow start), his father the spendthrift itinerant preacher, the overbearing love of his mother, the development of his embattled loner/misunderstood genius aura, his shoestring budgets, the Welsh hatred of the English, the derivative designs and moon-lighting, the early successes, the gathering of wealthy patrons, the theater fire, the flight of fancy, the scandal, the horrible murder, the trips to Japan, the dogged wrath of his third spouse scorned, the hearings and arrests, the opposition to war, and the investigations, but also the roots of his ideas, their development over time, his failures and his brilliant inspirations.
In addition to all of that, the book also describes his difficult interaction with his clients, including the unyielding will of the designer, the last minutes sketches, the leaky roofs, the faulty wiring, inflexible interiors, and, naturally, the budget overruns. And finally you also find the childish jealousies, the scathing insults, the bragadocio, the endless grudges, the begging for money, the blatant manipulations, the impulsive spending, the emotional outbursts, and the ridiculous stunts … But this stuff is not separated by type as I have just done; it is all mixed together following a rough chronological order, as it would be if you were seeing it in real time. All in all, this is a very revealing, very informative, fun read.
April 12, 2011
This was what I think a biography should be - objective and extremely detailed
December 28, 2014
Meryle Secrest is a good story teller (a talent for narrative not for making things up) and Wright gives her a lot of material to dig into. Sections of this book on Wright's antics are frankly hilarious. But Wright's life is also wrenching, heroic, mesmerizing, profound, impossible to interpret and unbelievable by turns. Some conclude that he was just a horrible person. He had a talent for invective and self invention and could not share the spotlight with anyone, but was more to the man than self interest.
What is the best biography of Wright? Hardcore Wright aficionados, the worshipful ones, don't like this one and despise Brendan Gill's Many Masks which is perhaps loose on facts. Secrest's is a great one as is Robert Twombly's. There is no multi-volume scholarly biography, surprisingly.
The best scholarship/writing on Wright and his work are probably the focused studies like Frank Lloyd Wright and the Art of Japan: The Architects Other Passion by Julia Meech, Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House: Architecture as Portraiture and Fallingwater Rising: Frank Lloyd Wright, E. J. Kaufmann, and America's Most Extraordinary House by Franklin Toker.
What is the best biography of Wright? Hardcore Wright aficionados, the worshipful ones, don't like this one and despise Brendan Gill's Many Masks which is perhaps loose on facts. Secrest's is a great one as is Robert Twombly's. There is no multi-volume scholarly biography, surprisingly.
The best scholarship/writing on Wright and his work are probably the focused studies like Frank Lloyd Wright and the Art of Japan: The Architects Other Passion by Julia Meech, Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House: Architecture as Portraiture and Fallingwater Rising: Frank Lloyd Wright, E. J. Kaufmann, and America's Most Extraordinary House by Franklin Toker.
August 1, 2026
"No colors fade, no leaves decay,
No fires char that beauty nor ever
Can until the world is changed
And ended."
"The Phoenix"
Poems from the Old English
Frank Lloyd Wright was a complex, deeply flawed man. And it is because he was a complex, deeply flawed man that he stands as a pillar of human potential. He was the clever bard in the ancient Celtic sense, the trickster and the artist, certainly gifted with Insight.
I am fortunate to have grown up not far from where Wright was born, lived, and worked. I am more fortunate still to have a job which takes me daily down the same twisting roads, forested valleys, and bucolic vistas which hung so heavy on Wright's own soul. It is walking the fields and forest that he did, gazing upon the same hills, and watching the same brooks tumble through wind-swept prairie that gives me the sensation that I (and all of humanity) can see the same things the he saw.
Wright, for me, is a much-needed reminder that there is a transcendent human ideal accessible to all of us. An ideal that not only managed to survive in America, but was uniquely suited to taking root here. Never start believing that your country is spiritually dead. Because beneath the materialism, ignorance, greed, and hatred, there is a substance of perfect reality. An infinite well awaiting humanity to drink deeply. Even if Wright never embodied the perfect ideal himself, he could see it. He hung over the well and looked deeply into its waters. His architecture was not some forerunner of modernity, but the reflection of something ancient and universal.
As his family motto goes,
Truth against the world.
Oh also the book is well-written and enjoyable. You should read it.
No fires char that beauty nor ever
Can until the world is changed
And ended."
"The Phoenix"
Poems from the Old English
Frank Lloyd Wright was a complex, deeply flawed man. And it is because he was a complex, deeply flawed man that he stands as a pillar of human potential. He was the clever bard in the ancient Celtic sense, the trickster and the artist, certainly gifted with Insight.
I am fortunate to have grown up not far from where Wright was born, lived, and worked. I am more fortunate still to have a job which takes me daily down the same twisting roads, forested valleys, and bucolic vistas which hung so heavy on Wright's own soul. It is walking the fields and forest that he did, gazing upon the same hills, and watching the same brooks tumble through wind-swept prairie that gives me the sensation that I (and all of humanity) can see the same things the he saw.
Wright, for me, is a much-needed reminder that there is a transcendent human ideal accessible to all of us. An ideal that not only managed to survive in America, but was uniquely suited to taking root here. Never start believing that your country is spiritually dead. Because beneath the materialism, ignorance, greed, and hatred, there is a substance of perfect reality. An infinite well awaiting humanity to drink deeply. Even if Wright never embodied the perfect ideal himself, he could see it. He hung over the well and looked deeply into its waters. His architecture was not some forerunner of modernity, but the reflection of something ancient and universal.
As his family motto goes,
Truth against the world.
Oh also the book is well-written and enjoyable. You should read it.
January 11, 2021
This is a wonderfully researched and executed biography capturing the wide range of contradictions that constituted Frank Lloyd Wright’s being. His life is an amalgam of conflicting family dynamics from a fawning overprotective mother to a father who abandoned his wife and children. The author explores Wright’s origins back to Wales and we come to understand the profound impact this heritage has on the life of Wright.
As the family dynamics and ancestry is explored the picture emerges of a young Wright who has been exposed to an amazing range of personalities. I found the author’s time spent tracking the connections intriguing and key to the puzzle of his many contraindications. He is a narcissist boarding on clinical while able to charm most anyone from wives to clients out of seemingly untenable dilemmas.
His iconic architecture and the path to his reputation as a giant of the profession is the heart of the book. The reader will be privy to the story behind the epic creations from Falling Waters to the Johnson and Johnson world headquarters. The backstory to his beloved Taliesin alone is worth the investment of time to read Secrest’s biography of this complex and irascible American icon of architecture.
As the family dynamics and ancestry is explored the picture emerges of a young Wright who has been exposed to an amazing range of personalities. I found the author’s time spent tracking the connections intriguing and key to the puzzle of his many contraindications. He is a narcissist boarding on clinical while able to charm most anyone from wives to clients out of seemingly untenable dilemmas.
His iconic architecture and the path to his reputation as a giant of the profession is the heart of the book. The reader will be privy to the story behind the epic creations from Falling Waters to the Johnson and Johnson world headquarters. The backstory to his beloved Taliesin alone is worth the investment of time to read Secrest’s biography of this complex and irascible American icon of architecture.
December 16, 2012
This book is a brick, but it is riveting the entire way through. It does one of my least favorite things that biographies do -- that is to give a brief version of the entire life and death of the subject at the outset -- but even that is done very well. Starting with Lloyd Wright's ancestors in Wales, every major personality in this history is fleshed out so that when the relationships are recounted, everyone seems like a real person. This is especially important when it comes to his wives, who could easily be dismissed with cheap psychological assessments, but are given equal validity.
Very well written, impeccably researched.
Very well written, impeccably researched.
January 23, 2016
The problem with reading biographies is that, often, you come away with a distaste for the subject. I did not enjoy the style in which this book was written. I felt that the author fell in love with her research and was afraid to omit facts, no matter how marginal they were to understanding Wright. My takeaway was that Frank Lloyd Wright was a arrogant, self-centered, unfaithful and uneducated man who took advantage of friends, acquaintances and aspiring architects. He did not even attend his mother's funeral after she devoted her life to his development. He may have been some kind of "genius" but he seemed to have no moral compass.
June 30, 2009
Slow book to read...did learn a lot about FLLW's life's events, but think the author spent too much time on not-so important details. Will compare it to "Many Masks" by Brendan Gill when finished..
May 19, 2017
This book was informative, but it was also wordy and tedious. It was a relief to finish it!
March 11, 2025
If you are going to add photographs of a world famous architect's work, how about not making them so faded and blurry that they are indecipherable? The author takes great pains to outline the background of every minor and major character in ponderous detail. I found myself skipping over some of it, along with her conjectures about how FLLW felt or behaved based on her own opinion. Also, the book seemed to be very disorganized, mixing eras of his life out of order, using different names for the same people and discussing different projects in eras other than the ones that were relevant. Other than that, the storytelling was acceptable.
June 23, 2025
4.5 stars. This biography threaded the needle between thoroughness and readability extremely well. I actually thought the prose become more engaging as the book went on, which is rare in biography. I was happy to see my workplace mentioned in the following key anecdote:
"Henry Sayles Francis...acting director of the Cleveland Museum of Art...recalled having Wright [visit] in the spring of 1932. 'After dinner, Wright went to his bathroom to prepare for his lecture and was gone for some time. Finally he summoned his hostess. He had dropped a bridge of false teeth down the toilet. She arrived, and they peered down together but there was nothing they could do as he had already flushed.'"
"Henry Sayles Francis...acting director of the Cleveland Museum of Art...recalled having Wright [visit] in the spring of 1932. 'After dinner, Wright went to his bathroom to prepare for his lecture and was gone for some time. Finally he summoned his hostess. He had dropped a bridge of false teeth down the toilet. She arrived, and they peered down together but there was nothing they could do as he had already flushed.'"
January 29, 2026
Nothing like a great biography of the life of a person about whom you are interested in learning more. This book fits the bill if you would like to explore the very interesting life and work of Frank Lloyd Wright.
February 22, 2016
Overall, this was an excellent biography detailing the life of an architectural genius who was also a self-centered, overbearing person. The book starts a bit slowly with the author laboriously going over FLW's Welsh ancestry and Welsh-influenced background to the point that it's almost painful, but hang in there. After the author is done with that, she does a wonderful job of bringing the architect and his times to life. I found her account absolutely fascinating, and could not put this book down. The size of the book is intimidating, but don't let that put you off. I loved it-- but I didn't love Frank's thoughtlessness, financial stupidity, and arrogance. Even if this wasn't a truly engaging and entertaining book, it would still be worth reading just to learn more about arguably the most influential American architect of all time. I highly recommend this.
March 19, 2013
This is the definitive Wright biography. Secrist writes well and thoroughly of Wright’s professional and personal life. What struck me is how, due to “Loving Frank” so much is made of Wright’s romance with Mamah Cheney (which was short-lived due to her murder)—even Taliesen offers a “Loving Frank” tour, when his attachments to his first wife Catherine, his second the venomous Miriam Noel and his final to Olgivanna were of greater duration. Olgivanna probably had the strongest effect on Wright’s career and certainly was his helpmeet. Secrist maintains objectivity towards Wright’s mercurial character and doesn’t gloss over his failings any more than she diminishes his accomplishments.
December 17, 2008
Okay, I admit I skimmed this book for information about his love life. Anyway, it's very detailed on *all* aspects of his life. Kind of makes me never want to write a biography - so much fact-finding/checking/recording!
August 17, 2015
A very readable biography. The author did a nice job of finding themes in FLW's upbringing that may have led to some of his peculiar characteristics.
June 15, 2021
I decided not to finish this biography because I wasn't in love with the writing and it also bothered me how often the biographer used conjecture to talk about Frank Lloyd Wright's motivations/life events/goals. The book was overwhelmed with detail - from FLW's own autobiography, from letters, from newspapers and other sources - but the biographer still spent a lot of time guessing at what FLW would have done, why he would have done it, what events in his childhood made him behave the way he did, etc. It was disconcerting. I didn't believe any of the guesses or want them; it felt like telling the reader what to believe about the architect rather than letting the historical details speak for themselves.
Also, FLW was apparently pretty egotistical and he had a lot of affairs. That's not the biographer's fault, but it made me a little sad reading about how unhappy, in debt, or chasing unreachable things he constantly seemed to be. I really just wanted a book that explained the philosophies behind his creations and the details of what he built; I'll have to look elsewhere for that.
Also, FLW was apparently pretty egotistical and he had a lot of affairs. That's not the biographer's fault, but it made me a little sad reading about how unhappy, in debt, or chasing unreachable things he constantly seemed to be. I really just wanted a book that explained the philosophies behind his creations and the details of what he built; I'll have to look elsewhere for that.
July 9, 2026
I think the book gives a good overview of Wright's life, warts and all. I learned a lot that I didn't get out of visiting his houses and both Taliesins. For my taste, Secrest goes into more detail than necessary or optimal about the religious background of his family. Who cares about Calvanistic Methodists and Unitarians and how, really, is it applicable to FLLW? Similarly I think too much attention was given to the details of how Wright fits into artistic and design movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. Really a couple of pages would have sufficed IMO. I did like the information about his wives and relationships and the Taliesin murders. I was unaware of the challenges of the Guggenheim project. Secrest provides good detail about the Imperial Hotel project. Perhaps it is a reflection on me but I prefer these more straightforward matters rather than her speculations. I do recommend the book despite its length and limitations.
January 30, 2022
I learned a lot from this book, and therefore I am glad that I read it. But the author’s writing style made it challenging and at times dull. There were lots of unnecessary details. In some instances the transitions from subject matter were nonexistent, rolling from one topic to the next without even starting a new paragraph. And speaking of, there were pages without a single break in the paragraph…why? And my final critique, the author LOVES to write “the former” or “the latter” rather than just saying the person’s name, and that drove me nuts!
I was hoping to get a better understanding of FLLW’s design processes but this book is centered around his personal life, which is ok because the details of his life provide plenty of drama to unpack!
I was hoping to get a better understanding of FLLW’s design processes but this book is centered around his personal life, which is ok because the details of his life provide plenty of drama to unpack!
November 26, 2023
Really hard to read. It took me about a month to digest it in parts. The first part which is very important which explains FLW family history and why he was so headstrong was such a drag to read. Once his career started, then it got easier to read. What an incredible life but he’s such a jerk in so many ways. Clearly he didn’t understand money and would borrow so much from so many. Any Rand completely misunderstood him so I will not connect “The Fountainhead” with FLW anymore. I still love his work.
August 18, 2024
Balanced, well-researched, and detailed account of FLlW’s life. Really appreciate how the author made very clear what was fact, another person’s opinion, or her conjecture about his character or what might have happened. Despite what some reviews here suggest, that conjecture is necessary when writing a biography about someone who has passed, to help fill in the gaps and develop greater insight. And Secrest is in a good position to opine; she has done an extraordinary amount of research. Probably the best biography written about him.
July 4, 2023
A well researched biography of a complex man. Genius and narcissist, Wright is a hard person to pigeon hole. Influenced by his Welsh, Unitarian roots but, also a truly controversial modern man. The beginning of this book does drag while Secrest is going into excruciating detail about his Welsh forefathers and his large extended family. This is why I rated this book a 4 instead of a 5. Wright’s life is as fascinating as his architecture.
November 5, 2019
I've read a lot of little bios in other books about FLW's work, but I still had a lot of questions about certain aspects of his life and family, so this was just the ticket. Well written and researched, and very detailed, it answered all my questions and more. Sure, parts of it were a little more than I needed, but overall it was a good read and very informative.
September 8, 2025
I really enjoyed learning about Frank Lloyd Wright's roots and was tickled to learn he lived in McGregor, Iowa for a short stint. We grew up living and loving the same hills. Heck, maybe some of my family even knew him as they lived only a couple towns away from him in Spring Green. I'll always been impressed with his artistry and love of nature and natural beauty!
February 3, 2019
Mercurial is the word I think describes him.He did it his way.Everyone else was always wrong.Murders,fires,divorces,law suits,constant debt,socialist/communist leanings, never perturbed his genius.He was stubborn,hard headed,jealous,vengeful,and one of the most acclaimed architects of all time
February 28, 2020
Although I learned a lot about the architect as a man (not a nice man), this was a very difficult book to read. Very very long and tedious book, with so very much detail.
I was hoping for a more enjoyable read, even if the topic was a difficult man.
Do not recommend.
I was hoping for a more enjoyable read, even if the topic was a difficult man.
Do not recommend.
December 6, 2024
Really could go be the book 3.5 stars. Sometimes way too much detail. Was not always presented in chronological order which was a little disconcerting at times. The authors is certainly no David McCullough.
March 15, 2023
92 pages in, and I was struggling to go on. Very disorganized, no narrative flow. DNF.
October 24, 2023
A rich and nuanced portrayal of a complicated genius. Highly recommend to anyone from south central Wisconsin.
November 2, 2024
He is a creep
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews