Audubon: America's Greatest Naturalist and His Voyage of Discovery to Labrador

by Peter B. Logan, Jeffrey L. Ward (Illustrator)

The Birds of America. One man's dream to illustrate and publish a work depicting all the birds of North America. Midway through the nearly twelve-year project, the French-American painter and naturalist John James Audubon was beset by obstacles and began to doubt if he could complete it. This overlooked chapter in his life comes alive in this volume, as Audubon faces a difficult test while the fate of his "Great Work" hangs in the balance.

816 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Carrie Laben · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you take only one thing away from this review, let it be this: Do not be intimidated by this book! ... (more)

[Lawrence G · Rating 5 out of 5]

As much as Audubon’s life has been exhaustively covered by other biographers, his journey into the wild of Labrador scarcely been covered at all. But the adventure to Labrador, the final cornerstone needed to complete his immortal Birds of America, is so much more. Audubon, the historical figure, was a driven artist and seeker, an embodiment of the American spirit, a naturalist ahead of his time, and a fully realized yet flawed human being. As captured in Logan’s biography, his trials and triumphs experienced in Labrador are a microcosm of his storied life, and they provide a new and revealing window into the legendary character.

The research for this work is deep, bordering on oceanic, with hundreds of pages of amazing footnotes and notes within footnotes in which Audubon scholars and bird buffs alike will want to splash around and bathe themselves. While the historical reliability of this work is unimpeachable, the prose is consistently striking, strong and fluid, no less than elegant, making its reading by anyone a pure pleasure.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written and scholarly addition to the Audubon canon, and it is also an engaging, fascinating, and informative read for non-birders like me. Peter Logan has been a lifelong Audubon fan, and he spent ten years researching and writing this book, which relates in vivid detail the tale of a pivotal voyage to Labrador. I loved learning about this famous naturalist and his struggles to succeed in his awesome undertaking of "Birds of America."