I received an ARC from the publisher and I had a difficult time reading this book for several reasons. One was that the book was full of typos and missing information like it had not been proofread or fact checked. Another reason was the length of the book which was more than 700 pages of details I wasn’t really interested in. Peter Matthiessen doesn’t come across as a particularly engaging person as he seemed to have a duplicitous personality and was self-centered in his relationships. He wrote for The Paris Review but was working for the CIA at the same time spying on other American writers. He is known for being a nature writer and political activist, and was close friends with writers George Plimpton, William Stryon and Jim Harrison. I was honestly was more interested in William Stryon because he is the most gifted of those writers. Peter Matthiessen won two National Book Awards, whereas Stryon’s awards include a Pulitzer Prize for The Confessions of Nat Turner (which ironically is a banned book) and a long list of awards including Academy Awards for the film adaptation of Sophie’s Choice.