Peter Matthiessen (1927–2014) was one of the most remarkable American writers of the 20th century. He came from a privileged background–went to Yale, then lived in postwar Paris, where he co-founded The Paris Review while secretly working for the CIA.
Afterward, he turned away from convention—working as a fisherman and setting off on wild journeys: down the Amazon in search of fossils, to New Guinea to live with a tribe, and into the seas of Australia to swim with sharks. His novels defied categories, while his nonfiction became famous, from Wildlife in America to powerful reporting that supported Cesar Chavez, Leonard Peltier, and Native American land rights.
At the heart of all his work was a restless search for meaning, most memorably captured in The Snow Leopard, his classic account of a 250-mile trek through the Himalayas.
In True Nature, Lance Richardson reconstructs the full scope of a spiritual quest that ultimately led Matthiessen, even as he inflicted great pain on his family, to the highest ranks of Zen. Richardson illuminates how the writer’s uncanny gifts enabled him to sense connections between ecological decline, racism, and labor exploitation—to express, eloquently and presciently, that “in a damaged human habitat, all problems merge.”
Richardson previously published House of Nutter: The Rebel Tailor of Savile Row, a New York Times Editors’ Choice and a 2018 notable title selected by The Sunday Times, The Mail on Sunday, Esquire, and the American Library Association. He teaches in the MFA in Writing program at Bennington College, Vermont.
This is a virtual event only. If you’d like to purchase a book, there is a ticket option to purchase a virtual ticket and book by either picking it up at Horizon or having it shipped.
The virtual event begins at 7:00 PM ET. You will receive a link to the livestream on October 16th. Once the event has aired you may watch anytime at your own leisure using the same link. Lance will be in conversation with #1 NYT bestselling author and NWS co-founder, Doug Stanton.
Doug Stanton is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of In Harm’s Way and 12 Strong, made into a major motion picture by Jerry Bruckheimer, and The Odyssey of Echo Company. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, Time, The Washington Post, Men’s Journal, The Daily Beast, Newsweek, Esquire, and Outside.
He was awarded the 2021 Steven Ambrose Oral History award. He attended Interlochen Arts Academy, Hampshire College, and received an MFA from the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. He created the National Writers Series in 2009 with his wife, Anne, and attorney Grant Parsons. He and Anne have three children and live in Traverse City.
