The magnificent Peter Matthiessen has died aged 86 - he wrote one of my favourite works of fiction, and one of the best pieces of non-fiction writing ever published.
Shadow Country is a re-written amalgamation of three of his novels, a trilogy set over several decades on the muggy coastal inlets of Florida. You feel like you are sweating the whole time you are reading it, it's that evocative - an absolute meisterwerk of American fiction.
In The Spirit of Crazy Horse is a meticulously researched history of settler exploitation and annihilation of the native American Indian population, focusing in particular on the case of Leonard Peltier, stitched up by the FBI in the 1970s and still in jail today.
Anyone else read either of these, or any of his other books? I only ask because whenever I mention him, no one's ever heard of him, and I wouldn't have either if frau imp hadn't bought me Shadow Country on spec one Christmas.
Shadow Country is a re-written amalgamation of three of his novels, a trilogy set over several decades on the muggy coastal inlets of Florida. You feel like you are sweating the whole time you are reading it, it's that evocative - an absolute meisterwerk of American fiction.
In The Spirit of Crazy Horse is a meticulously researched history of settler exploitation and annihilation of the native American Indian population, focusing in particular on the case of Leonard Peltier, stitched up by the FBI in the 1970s and still in jail today.
Anyone else read either of these, or any of his other books? I only ask because whenever I mention him, no one's ever heard of him, and I wouldn't have either if frau imp hadn't bought me Shadow Country on spec one Christmas.
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