Twentieth-Century Man

An exuberant biography of the life of the iconic photographer and naturalist Peter Beard, whose life and work captured the cultural imagination

Peter Beard lived an astonishing life.

Reviews

"The author succeeds in looking beyond Beard's surface appeal as the 'ideal avatar for our adventurous impulses, shirtless on a perpetual safari,' to explore what he calls Beard's fatalism, his 'heartbreak over the destruction of the natural world'...A vivid account of a life devoted to the African wild." — Kirkus Reviews“Spirited… Wallace blends biography, art criticism, reportage and essayistic digressions to create a portrait of a man so disillusioned with civilization that he sought to ‘rewild himself.’ . . . the man is sharper as a result.” — Washington Post