In this very compact volume are related the significant events in the architect's life from his unsettling boyhood in a disruptive family environment in the mid-nineteenth century, through a series of personal excesses and tragedies while at the same time he blazes a new trail for American architecture. The book concentrates on his personal life as it also chronicles, in layman's language, the legendary stories of his professional triumphs.
This 56 page book was at my local library, and I checked it out thinking that I would not learn anything. Surprisingly there a few interesting facts that were new to me.