John James Audubon is renowned for his masterpiece of natural history and art, THE BIRDS OF AMERICA, the first nearly comprehensive survey of birdlife focused on this continent. And yet few people understand, and many assume incorrectly, what sort of man he was. How did the illegitimate son of a French sea captain living in Haiti, who lied both about his parentage and his training, rise to become one of the greatest natural historians ever and the greatest name in ornithology?

In UNDER A WILD SKY: John James Audubon and the Making of The Birds of America --- a Pulitzer Prize finalist --- William Souder (THE PLAGUE OF FROGS and ON A FARTHER SHORE: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson, Author of Silent Spring) reveals that Audubon not only composed the most famous depictions of birds the world has ever seen, he also composed a brilliant mythology of self, for he discovered that selling subscriptions to his bird paintings, an essential step to underwrite his work, required he sell his own story first. In this brilliant work of biography, Souder charts the life of a driven man who, despite frequent failure, no clear path to success, and rigorous physical and artistic work, became the historical figure we know today.