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The Unknown Henry Miller: A Seeker in Big Sur
By Arthur Hoyle. 2014
Henry Miller was one of the most distinctive voices in twentieth-century literature. Better known in Europe than in his native…
America for most of this career, he achieved international success and celebrity during the 1960s when his banned "Paris" books-beginning with Tropic of Cancer-were published here and judged by the Supreme Court not to be obscene. Until then he had toiled in relative obscurity and poverty. The Unknown Henry Miller recounts Miller's career from its beginnings in Paris in the 1930s but focuses on his years living in Big Sur, California, from 1944 to 1961, during which he wrote many of his most important books, including The Rosy Crucifixion trilogy, married and divorced twice, raised two children, painted watercolors, and tried to live out an aesthetic and personal credo of self-realization.Written with the cooperation of the Henry Miller, Anais Nin, and other estates, The Unknown Henry Miller quotes extensively from Miller's correspondence in order to offer the reader direct experience of the author and man. It also draws on material not available to previous biographers, including interviews with Lepska Warren, Miller's third wife, and revelations from unpublished portions of Anais Nin's diaries. Behind the "bad boy" image, the author finds a man with devoted friendships, whose challenge of literary sexual taboos was part of a broader assault on the dehumanization of man and commercialization during the postwar years. He puts Miller's alleged misogyny in the context of his satire of sexual mores in general, and makes the case for restoring this groundbreaking writer to his rightful place in the American literary canon.Ruidoso: The Carmon Phillips Collection
By Lyn Kidder. 2014
Ruidoso, New Mexico, has long offered a cool, verdant haven to the many visitors who come to escape the desert…
heat. Commercial development of the area was hampered by the sheer difficulty in getting there--"You just picked your way through the sand dunes, following someone else's tire tracks," an early visitor recalled. Eventually, the first private cabins in Ruidoso were built in 1915 and a few primitive lodging facilities were added in the 1920s and 1930s. The local economy slowed during the Great Depression, but visitors still came to the cool pines. World War II brought an influx of servicemen from nearby air bases, but it was during the period of postwar enthusiasm that the town really began to grow. Word spread about the little town in the tall pines, due in large part to the efforts of one of its newest residents--photographer Carmon Phillips.Vincent van Gogh: Portrait of an Artist
By Jan Greenberg, Sandra Jordan. 2001
Vincent van Gogh-- one of the 19th century' s most brilliant artists-- will forever be remembered as the Dutchman who…
cut off his ear. But this incident only underscores the passion that consumed him-- a passion that, when he took up painting at age 27, infused his work. Whether painting a portrait, a landscape, or a still life, van Gogh sought to capture the vibrant spirit of his subject. It didn't matter that others found his work too unconventional. Van Gogh persevered. And as he moved from the cold climate of Holland to balmy southern France, he pioneered a new technique and style. In a career spanning only a decade, van Gogh painted many great works, yet fame eluded him. This lack of recognition increased his self-doubts and bitter disappointments. Today, however, van Gogh stands as a giant among artists. [This text is listed as an example that meets Common Core Standards in English language arts in grades 6-8 at http://www.corestandards.org.] Winner of the Sibert HonorMy Ten Years in a Quandary and How They Grew
By Robert Benchley. 2016
When Robert Benchley died in 1945, his obituaries read like love-letters from the world. Here is a collection of his…
short, whimsical, hilarious articles which show why.With befuddled and heroic bewilderment Benchley faces his problems. Among others are the mislaid locomotive, a dachshund who sued for libel, and a songbird who was "out to get" Benchley.It ends with five sizzling chapters of his "Untold Story," starting when, as an innocent young man from the country (Boston), he arrived in the city (New York) looking for pitfalls. (It was a holiday and they were all closed.)"...it is a saga of the gaga, and probably not far from his masterpiece."--New York TimesA rare gem of a book!Illustrated by Gluyas WilliamsA Carnival of Losses: Notes Nearing Ninety
By Donald Hall. 2018
New essays from the vantage point of very old age, once again “alternately lyrical and laugh-out-loud funny,”* from the former…
poet laureate of the United States * New York Times Donald Hall lived a remarkable life of letters, one capped most recently by the New York Times bestseller Essays After Eighty, a “treasure” of a book in which he “balance[s] frankness about losses with humor and gratitude” (Washington Post). Before his passing in 2018, nearing ninety, Hall delivered this new collection of self-knowing, fierce, and funny essays on aging, the pleasures of solitude, and the sometimes astonishing freedoms arising from both. He intersperses memories of exuberant days—as in Paris, 1951, with a French girl memorably inclined to say, “I couldn’t care less”—with writing, visceral and hilarious, on what he has called the “unknown, unanticipated galaxy” of extreme old age. “Why should a nonagenarian hold anything back?” Hall answers his own question by revealing several vivid instances of “the worst thing I ever did," and through equally uncensored tales of literary friendships spanning decades, with James Wright, Richard Wilbur, Seamus Heaney, and other luminaries. Cementing his place alongside Roger Angell and Joan Didion as a generous and profound chronicler of loss, Hall returns to the death of his beloved wife, Jane Kenyon, in an essay as original and searing as anything he's written in his extraordinary literary lifetime.Double Exposure: A Twin Autobiography
By Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, Lady Thelma Furness. 2017
In 1921 there burst upon the New York social scene the famous Morgan twins, Thelma and Gloria, whose names in…
the decade that followed came to spell glamour and excitement in that magic world of the “international set.” Two continents thrilled to Thelma Furness’s romances with Richard Bennett, Lord Furness, the Prince of Wales, Aly Khan, and Edmund Lowe. The whole world followed with bated breath the searing custody trial over young Gloria that pitted mother against daughter and shook the Vanderbilts and society. While much has been written from the outside about all of this, the two principals have never before disclosed the real truth behind the rumors and the headlines. And exciting as are their personal adventures and escapades, their story is also a portrait of an era.In every age there have been certain women who through a combination of beauty and personality have attracted the love and admiration of rich or famous men, and who seem to be the embodiments of the feminine charm of the period. The Edwardian era had its Lily Langtry, the Napoleonic its Josephine, the eighteenth century its Du Barry and its Lady Hamilton—and so on back to antiquity. In our time, among those women who have come close to fitting this role are Lady Furness and Gloria Vanderbilt.From childhood each had the elusive qualities that characterize the femme fatale. Both knew the love of many men, both suffered deeply, and now both have happily risen above the vicissitudes of their checkered careers and face the future with gallantry, humor, and without rancor or bitterness over the past. In this spirit, and with all sincerity, they have set down the story of their lives.In Double Exposure, we are given a matchless picture of life among the great—and the near-great—in the now-vanished world between the two wars. Above all, we come to know the minds and hearts and philosophy of life and love of two fascinating women, and something of the nature of fascination itself.The Man in the Glass House: Philip Johnson, Architect of the Modern Century
By Mark Lamster. 2018
When Philip Johnson died in 2005 at the age of 98, he was still one of the most recognizable--and influential--figures…
on the American cultural landscape. The first recipient of the Pritzker Prize and MoMA's founding architectural curator, Johnson made his mark as one of America's leading architects with his famous Glass House in New Caanan, CT, and his controversial AT&T Building in NYC, among many others in nearly every city in the country--but his most natural role was as a consummate power broker and shaper of public opinion.Johnson introduced European modernism--the sleek, glass-and-steel architecture that now dominates our cities--to America, and mentored generations of architects, designers, and artists to follow. He defined the era of "starchitecture" with its flamboyant buildings and celebrity designers who esteemed aesthetics and style above all other concerns. But Johnson was also a man of deep paradoxes: he was a Nazi sympathizer, a designer of synagogues, an enfant terrible into his old age, a populist, and a snob. His clients ranged from the Rockefellers to televangelists to Donald Trump.Award-winning architectural critic and biographer Mark Lamster's THE MAN IN THE GLASS HOUSE lifts the veil on Johnson's controversial and endlessly contradictory life to tell the story of a charming yet deeply flawed man. A rollercoaster tale of the perils of wealth, privilege, and ambition, this book probes the dynamics of American culture that made him so powerful, and tells the story of the built environment in modern America.Shutterbabe
By Deborah Copaken Kogan. 2000
From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe to Romania to Haiti, Kogan takes her readers on a heartbreaking yet surprisingly hilarious journey through…
a mine-strewn decade, seamlessly blending her personal battles with the historical ones it was her job to record. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.Twentieth-Century Boy
By Duncan Hannah. 2018
A celebrated New York City painter's rollicking and vividly immediate account of his life amid the city's glamorous demimondes in…
their most vital era as an aspiring artist, roaring boy, dandy, cultural omnivore, and far-from-obscure object of desire. Duncan Hannah arrived in New York City from Minneapolis in the early 1970s as an art student hungry for experience, game for almost anything, and with a prodigious taste for drugs, girls, alcohol, movies, rock and roll, books, parties, and everything else the city had to offer. He also happened to be outrageously, androgynously beautiful, attracting the attention of the city's most prominent gay scenemeisters, who found his adamant heterosexuality a source of immense frustration. Taken directly from the notebooks Hannah kept throughout the seventies, Twentieth-Century Boy is a louche, sometimes lurid, and incredibly entertaining report from a now almost mythical time and place, full of outrageously bad behavior, naked ambition, gender-bending celebrities, fantastically good music and evaporating barriers of taste and decorum. At its center: a young man in the mix and on the make, determined to forge an identity for himself as an artist while being at risk from his own heedless appetites. A time capsule from a scary, seedy, but irresistible time and place.Who Is Stan Lee? (Who was?)
By Geoff Edgers, Nancy Harrison, John Hinderliter. 2014
Stanley Lieber was just seventeen when he got his first job at Timely Comics in 1939. Since then, the man…
now known as Stan Lee has launched a comic book empire, made Marvel Comics a household name, and created iconic superheroes such as Iron Man, Spider-Man, and the Fantastic Four. Stan Lee is still dreaming up caped crusaders and masked vigilantes in his nineties. Who Is Stan Lee? tells the story of a New York City kid with a superhero-sized imagination.Groundbreaking Guys: 40 Men Who Became Great by Doing Good
By Stephanie True Peters, Shamel Washington. 2019
An illustrated book of biographies highlighting the inspiring and innovative qualities of forty very different men throughout history, for fans…
of Heroes for My Son and Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls.Our history books are full of great men, from inventors to explorers to presidents. But these great men were not always good men. It's time for our role models to change. This book pays tribute to Mr. Rogers, Barack Obama, Hayao Miyazaki, and more: men whose masculinity is grounded in compassion and care. These men have varying worldviews and are accomplished in a range of fields, but they share important commonalities. They served their communities. They treated people with respect. They lifted others up. And they went on to create change, inspire others, and, indeed, do great things--not in spite of their goodness, but because of it.These men's stories will educate, entertain, and encourage the next generation of writers, activists, entrepreneurs, and other leaders of all genders to do better and be better--to be truly groundbreaking.Who Was Norman Rockwell? (Who Was?)
By Sarah Fabiny, Who Hq. 2019
Brush up your knowledge on popular American painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell with this exciting Who Was? title.Norman Rockwell often…
painted what he saw around him in nostalgic and humorous ways. After hearing President Franklin Roosevelt's address to Congress in 1943, he was inspired to create paintings that described the principles for universal rights: four paintings that portray iconic images of the American experience. Over the course of his lifetime, he painted 322 covers for the Saturday Evening Post. Of his work, he has said: "Maybe as I grew up and found the world wasn't the perfect place I thought it to be, I consciously decided that if it wasn't an ideal world, it should be, and so painted only the ideal aspects of it."St. Louis Woman (Opera Biographies Ser.)
By Helen Traubel, Richard G. Hubler. 2018
This charming autobiography captures the life story of a fascinating woman: a Missouri girl-turned-world-class soprano who remained true to her…
roots through it all.Born and reared in St. Louis and proud of her origins, Helen Traubel grew up in a modest German-American family. She spent her teens and twenties singing with church choirs and quartets in the city, studying under first- rate teachers. She did not leave Missouri for New York until she was in her early thirties. Although she replaced the great Kirsten Flagstad at the Metropolitan Opera, she refused to confine herself to singing before elite crowds and prided herself on reaching a larger, more general audience via nightclubs, radio, television, and theater.St. Louis Woman is filled with candid and amusing stories as full of zest as Traubel herself. One such story details her audition for the Ford Hour, during which she suffered a terrible case of poison ivy, and the booth technicians interrupted her performance with laughter. Furious, she announced she would sing no more and started to leave. Without explanation, the technicians asked her to continue. Traubel later discovered that the higher-ups had called down to the technicians demanding they stop playing the Flagstad record and let that kid sing.The qualities that made Traubel such a notable individual are captured in this entertaining book. Her strong, independent character shines through. Outspoken and at times brutally honest, Traubel recounts her experiences at the Met, as both a popular performer and a teacher. She tells of exasperating moments when she was coaching famous pupil Margaret Truman. This is not a fact-laden examination of the singer’s Wagnerian repertory or a study of high opera; rather this engaging book introduces the reader to a nationally renowned performer who, despite her unmatched talent, retained her hometown identity and lived her life as a St. Louis woman.Laughter is a Wonderful Thing
By Joe E. Brown, Ralph Hancock. 2018
HOW ONE MAN FOUND A WAY OF LAUGHTER AND GAVE IT TO THE WORLDEvery American has at one time or…
another known the pleasure of watching Joe E. Brown. Mirth-maker Joe, clown-prince of movies, radio and TV, however, is more than just a dispenser of gaiety and laughter.Ralph Hancock, famed foreign correspondent, has drawn a most accurate picture of one of the country’s outstanding citizens. You’ll laugh with, and feel sympathy for comedian Joe—the grease-painted Pagliacci of the footlights—as you read of a lifetime of all the human emotions.Joe E. Brown was born to bring laughter into the world. From the first day he realized people enjoyed him, he knew he was meant to continue in his role as self-appointed Ambassador of goodwill. Joe’s formula was simple and refreshing: Always leave ‘em laughing, even before you say goodbye.Co-author Hancock skilfully weaves a heart-warming tale of a humourist but—more important—a humanitarian who has never hesitated to cooperate with a cause which is pledged to the advancement of the human race.Laughter may be a wonderful thing, but it is also the tender tale of a father who knows the pleasures and sorrows of raising a family. The story of Joe E. Brown is a lifelike portrait of one of America’s most beloved personalities.My 21 Years in the White House
By Alonzo Fields. 2019
My 21 Years in the White House, first published in 1960, is the fascinating account by Alonzo Fields of his…
service as head butler under 4 presidents: Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower. Fields (1900-1994) began his employment at the White House in 1931, and kept a journal of his meetings with the presidents and their families; he would also meet important people like Winston Churchill, Princess Elizabeth of England, Thomas Edison, John D. Rockefeller, presidential cabinet members, senators, representatives, and Supreme Court Justices. He would also witness presidential decision-making at critical times in American history -- the attack on Pearl Harbor, the death of Franklin Roosevelt, the desegregation of the military, and the outbreak of hostilities in Korea. As Fields often told his staff, “...remember that we are helping to make history. We have a small part ... but they can't do much here without us. They've got to eat, you know.” Included are sample menus prepared for visiting heads-of-state and foreign dignitaries.The King: A Biography of Clark Gable
By Charles Samuels. 2019
The King was first published in 1961, shortly after the death of Hollywood legend Clark Gable in 1960. The book…
traces Gable's life from its humble, hard-scrabble beginnings in Ohio, to his hard-work and determined efforts to achieve success on Broadway, to his meteoric rise to stardom in Hollywood, his time spent in the Army Air Force in Europe, and his many loves, including Carole Lombard who was tragically killed in an airplane crash in 1942. The King paints an intimate, contemporary portrait of Clark Gable the man, both on and off camera, and ends with Gable's work on his last film, The Misfits, and his subsequent decline in health and his death on November 16, 1960, at age 59.Una furtiva lágrima
By Nélida Piñón. 2019
Vuelve la gran escritora brasileña de las últimas décadas y Premio Príncipe de Asturias. «Literatura pura, auténtica, íntegra, hecha a…
partir del amor a la palabra, a la vocación, al arte, a la belleza y a la creación.»Mario Vargas Llosa «Soy mujer, brasileña, escritora, cosmopolita, aldeana, un ser de todas partes, de todos los puertos.» Una furtiva lágrima es el diario luminoso, íntimo y singular de una de las escritoras más importantes de la literatura latinoamericana. En este collage impresionista, formado por las reflexiones y los retazos más lúcidos de una inteligencia imparable, Nélida Piñon compone un autorretrato de su historia personal, de su familia y de sus raíces. Las meditaciones en torno a la literatura, el oficio de la escritura, la lengua portuguesa o la historia universal se mezclan de modo natural con un análisis de sí misma, de su condición de mujer, de su condición de escritora y de brasileña. Esta riqueza de enfoques y tentativas son, en el fondo, vías de acceso a una personalidad única y diversa; al fin y al cabo, la propia Nélida Piñon afirma sobre sí misma: «Soy múltiple». La crítica ha dicho...«Nélida Piñon eleva una frase a lo sublime. No se corrompe con sentimentalismos vacuos y disimula sus dolores -quién no lo hace- con la fortaleza de quien ha de tomar sus propias decisiones.»Alberto Barciela, El Progreso «Referencia absoluta de la literatura brasileña actual, escritora carismática y comprometida con la voz de Iberoamérica.»María Luisa Blanco, El País «Una de las protagonistas más relevantes y originales de la cultura brasileña, que nunca duda en participar en todas las formas de lucha.»Le Monde «La magia de Nélida Piñon consiste en unir imaginación y compasión, para dar a sus personajes y sus lectores - una piel con la misma temperatura que la de ellos -.»Carlos Fuentes «Literatura de primerísima calidad. La dimensión amazónica de la imaginación de Nélida Piñon eleva a la autora a la categoría de genio.»Publishers Weekly «Con la fuerza de su imaginación, tiene la capacidad de expresar literariamente los sueños de todo Brasil e incluso de toda la gran familia latinoamericana.»The New York Times Book Review «Nélida Piñon no solo es una de las más grandes escritoras en lengua portuguesa de su tiempo sino una de las más relevantes en el panorama internacional.»Mercedes Monmany, ABC «Tan actual y universal que no tiene nada que envidiar a la obra de autores como John Banville, Philip Roth y Paul Auster, que también fueron galardonados con el Premio Príncipe de Asturias de las Letras.»Jonatan Silva, Paraná Online «Piñon es una escritora de pulmones poderosos e imaginación desbordante que ha creado una literatura apegada alas pasiones y todo menos aséptica.»La VanguardiaAleister Crowley in India: The Secret Influence of Eastern Mysticism on Magic and the Occult
By Tobias Churton. 2000
Follow Aleister Crowley through his mystical travels in India, which profoundly influenced his magical system as well as the larger…
occult world • Shares excerpts from Crowley&’s unpublished diaries and details his travels in India, Burma, and Sri Lanka from 1901 to 1906 • Reveals how Crowley incorporated what he learned in India--jnana yoga, Vedantist, Tantric, and Buddhist philosophy--into his own school of Magick • Explores the world of Theosophy, yogis, Hindu traditions, and the first Buddhist sangha to the West as well as the first pioneering expeditions to K2 and Kangchenjunga in 1901 and 1905 Early in life, Aleister Crowley&’s dissociation from fundamentalist Christianity led him toward esoteric and magical spirituality. In 1901, he made the first of three voyages to the Indian subcontinent, searching for deeper knowledge and experience. His religious and magical system, Thelema, shows clear influence of his thorough experimental absorption in Indian mystical practices. Sharing excerpts from Crowley&’s unpublished diaries, Tobias Churton tells the true story of Crowley&’s adventures in India from 1901 to 1906, culminating in his first experience of the supreme trance of jnana (&“gnostic&”) yoga, Samadhi: divine union. Churton shows how Vedantist and Advaitist philosophies, Hindu religious practices, yoga, and Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism informed Crowley&’s spiritual system and reveals how he built on Madame Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott&’s prior work in India. Churton illuminates links between these beliefs and ancient Gnostic systems and shows how they informed the O.T.O. system through Franz Hartmann and Theodor Reuss. Churton explores Crowley&’s early breakthrough in consciousness research with a Dhyana trance in Sri Lanka, becoming a devotee of Shiva and Bhavani, fierce avatar of the goddess Parvati. Recounting Crowley&’s travels to the temples of Madurai, Anuradhapura, and Benares, Churton looks at the gurus of yoga and astrology Crowley met, while revealing his adventures with British architect, Edward Thornton. Churton also details Crowley&’s mountaineering feats in India, including the record-breaking attempt on Chogo Ri (K2) in 1902 and the Kangchenjunga disaster of 1905. Revealing how Crowley incorporated what he learned in India into his own school of Magick, including an extensive look at his theory of correspondences, the symbology of 777, and the Thelemic synthesis, Churton sheds light on one of the most profoundly mystical periods in Crowley&’s life as well as how it influenced the larger occult world.Entre lujurias y represión: Serú Girán: la banda que lo cambió todo
By Mariano Del Mazo. 2019
La historia mítica de la banda más importante y disruptiva de la historia del rock nacional. En 1978, en las…
playas brasileñas de Buzios un tsunami transformó el rock argentino. En una casa cercana al mar, Charly García y David Lebón comenzaron a componer. Pronto se les sumarían Oscar Moro y Pedro Aznar. La combinación fue alquímica y se llamó Serú Girán. Su irrupción puso fin a toda una época. Había en cada disco, en cada concierto en vivo, canciones que registraban la angustia de la ciudad y la desolación del individuo lo colectivo, lo personal , temas que conducían a callejones sin salida al tiempo que invitaban a la fiesta. Sus canciones eran delicadas, líricas, crípticas, bufas, rabiosas y melancólicas: siempre emotivas, vibrantes y sensuales. Con apenas cuatro discos en el período original Serú Girán, La grasa de las capitales, Bicicleta y Peperina , grabados en un lapso de cuatro años, cambiaron para siempre la sensibilidad del público y la concepción del espectáculo, alcanzando estándares de una profesionalización inédita. Entre lujurias y represión, de Mariano del Mazo quien a lo largo de su carrera entrevistó decenas de veces a los protagonistas , retrata no solo el anecdotario de una experiencia artística irrepetible. También reporta la intimidad de un grupo con personalidades descollantes y analiza los alcances de la revolución musical más sólida y lúcida del rock argentino desde sus inicios a orillas del mar hasta el decadente reencuentro en River Plate en 1992, cuando los dólares ardieron en la hoguera de las vanidades. «Estudié, me hice periodista, realicé decenas de entrevistas a Charly García y siempre o casi siempre, de alguna u otra manera, terminábamos hablando de Serú Girán. De su música y sus símbolos, de la alquimia y de la historia, esta historia. La de un tiempo horrible perforado por la belleza y la clarividencia. Una historia que late como una larga y única canción que pervive en los pliegues más profundos del corazón popular». «La historia de los primeros cuatro años de Serú Girán es también, en esencia, la historia de la capacidad de cambio de Charly García. Un mutante vocacional que dinamitó los puentes que fue construyendo, para siempre apuntar a un poco más allá. Cambió no solo para sobrevivir, sino para imponer pautas. Desde el preciosismo algo glacial del disco debut a la despedida de 1982 existe la misma distancia que media entre el hermetismo de la palabra 'Gisofanía' y la puerilidad de la palabra 'Popotitos'. Si en 1978 Charly era un músico tímido que apenas se despegaba del piano, a comienzos de los 80 era un nervioso y afectado performer».Michelangelo, God's Architect: The Story of His Final Years and Greatest Masterpiece
By William E. Wallace. 2019
The untold story of Michelangelo's final decades—and his transformation into one of the greatest architects of the Italian RenaissanceAs he…
entered his seventies, the great Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo despaired that his productive years were past. Anguished by the death of friends and discouraged by the loss of commissions to younger artists, this supreme painter and sculptor began carving his own tomb. It was at this unlikely moment that fate intervened to task Michelangelo with the most ambitious and daunting project of his long creative life.Michelangelo, God's Architect is the first book to tell the full story of Michelangelo's final two decades, when the peerless artist refashioned himself into the master architect of St. Peter’s Basilica and other major buildings. When the Pope handed Michelangelo control of the St. Peter’s project in 1546, it was a study in architectural mismanagement, plagued by flawed design and faulty engineering. Assessing the situation with his uncompromising eye and razor-sharp intellect, Michelangelo overcame the furious resistance of Church officials to persuade the Pope that it was time to start over.In this richly illustrated book, leading Michelangelo expert William Wallace sheds new light on this least familiar part of Michelangelo’s biography, revealing a creative genius who was also a skilled engineer and enterprising businessman. The challenge of building St. Peter’s deepened Michelangelo’s faith, Wallace shows. Fighting the intrigues of Church politics and his own declining health, Michelangelo became convinced that he was destined to build the largest and most magnificent church ever conceived. And he was determined to live long enough that no other architect could alter his design.