In 1803, an eighteen-year-old West Indies-born Frenchman arrived in New
York City, fleeing Napoleon's conscription. His work would become
inextricably entwined with the new world he so proudly adopted in his
motto "America, my country."
Inspired by the primeval forests and the vast flocks of birds that
thrived in them, Audubon spent the next several decades of his life
painstakingly documenting the birds of the American wilderness. He
traveled the back roads and bayous, searching out and studying the birds
that were his pastime and passion. He spent long, silent hours observing
them in the wild. He was no amateur ornithologist; rather, he drew his
birds from life, and his work always carried the line "drawn from nature
by J. J. Audubon."
Accompanied by his wife, Lucy, and their two sons, Audubon was able to
challenge the world's expectations and win. The story of this loving
family's long, profound struggle is as poignant and as relevant today as
it was in the early decades of the nineteenth century.
Combining meticulous scholarship with the dramatic life story of a
naturalist and pioneer, Audubon reexamines the artist's journals and
letters to tell the story of Audubon's quest, the origins of the
American spirit, and the sacrifice that resulted in one of the world's
greatest bodies of art: The Birds of America.
