"Danny Heitman has a wonderful eye for detail, an ear
for life's most resounding rhythms, and a heart ever open
to understanding what makes us who we are. Across the years
John James Audubon has found a friend in Mr. Heitman—a friend
who tells this story beautifully." —Bob Greene, NPR commentator
and author of And You Know You Should Be Glad and Once
Upon a Town
As the summer of 1821 began, John James Audubon's ambition
to create a comprehensive pictorial record of American birds
was still largely a dream. Then, out of economic necessity,
Audubon came to Oakley Plantation, a sprawling estate in Louisiana's
West Feliciana Parish. Teeming with what Audubon described
as an "almost supernatural" abundance of birds, the woods
of Oakley galvanized his sense of possibility for one of the
most audacious undertakings in the annals of art.
In A Summer of Birds, journalist and essayist Danny
Heitman sorts through the facts and romance of Audubon's summer
at Oakley, a season that clearly shaped the destiny of the
world's most famous bird artist. Heitman draws from a rich
variety of sources—including Audubon's own extensive journals,
more recent Audubon scholarship, and Robert Penn Warren's
poetry—to create a stimulating excursion across time, linking
the historical man Audubon to the present-day civic and cultural
icon. He considers the financial straits that led to Audubon's
employment at Oakley as a private tutor to fifteen-year-old
Eliza Pirrie, Audubon's family history, his flamboyance as
a master of self-invention, his naturalist and artistic techniques,
and the possible reasons for his dismissal. Illustrations
include photographs of Oakley House—now a state historic site—Audubon's
paintings from his Oakley period, and portraits of the Pirrie
family members.
A favorable combination of climate and geography made Oakley
a birding haven, and Audubon completed or began at least twenty-three
bird paintings—among his finest work—while staying there.
A Summer of Birds will inform and delight readers in
its exploration of this eventful but unsung 1821 interlude,
a fascinating chapter in the life of America's foremost bird
artist. It is an indispensable pleasure for birders, Audubon
enthusiasts, and visitors to Oakley House.
Danny Heitman is an award-winning
columnist for the The Advocate (Baton Rouge) and a
member of the The Advocate's editorial board. He has
contributed essays to the Smithsonian, Christian
Science Monitor, and other national publications and recently
won the In Character prize for editorial and opinion
writing.
Author Danny Heitman recently published an op-ed in The
Christian Science Monitor entitled "Why
We're Disappointed with Nature" about declining interest
in nature. Also, be sure to listen to Mr. Heitman's interview
podcast with Josh Burek.
"Heitman's treatment of Audubon is one of the most sophisticated
I've seen. He takes one episode from Audubon's life—an
important one—and unfolds from that the whole exciting
panorama of Audubon's life and art, a spectacular feat."—Christoph
Irmscher, editor of John James Audubon: Writings and Drawings
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