Archives

The ultimate painter of birds, Audubon's work put a humanistic, colorful and almost three-dimensional side to his subjects in an age where most of the world did not take birds too seriously. His work sparked a newfound excitement in the relatively unknown science of ornithology. Audubon was born a Frenchman but his story is uniquely American, a story a man reinventing himself to find success at a time when our country was finding its national character. Laura's guest is Richard Rhodes, author of "John James Audubon: The Making of an American"