This article came my way via Paul Ringstrom, and I thought it was very worth sharing here. Congrats again to Ron, and thanks to Paul as well!
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/ ... 963f4.html
Ron McCrea Book Signing Event In Madison
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Wrightgeek
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- Location: Westerville, Ohio
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SpringGreen
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Ron McCrea booksigning
Thanks, Wrightgeek, for posting the link to the article. I'm hoping to get to the Harmony Bar on Thursday for the booksigning.
"The building as architecture is born out of the heart of man, permanent consort to the ground, comrade to the trees, true reflection of man in the realm of his own spirit." FLLW, "Two Lectures in Architecture: in the Realm of Ideas".
The book is excellent with great period photographs. I highly recommend it.
Paul Harding FAIA Restoration Architect for FLW's 1901 E. Arthur Davenport House, 1941 Lloyd Lewis House, 1952 Glore House | www.harding.com | LinkedIn
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Wrightgeek
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Ron McCrea talks about Taliesin (audio - 15:00):
Building Taliesin: Frank Lloyd Wright's Home of Love and Loss
David
Building Taliesin: Frank Lloyd Wright's Home of Love and Loss
David
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Paul Ringstrom
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I just finished reading Ron McCrea's fine new book "Building Taliesin." The level of historical detail contained in this book can not be found in many other books on Wright. This book also contains over two hundred never before published historical photos. WOW, I learned a lot!
It is rare that a new book on Wright adds to our depth of understanding, but this one certainly does.
I highly encourage everyone to buy and read it too.
It is rare that a new book on Wright adds to our depth of understanding, but this one certainly does.
I highly encourage everyone to buy and read it too.
Former owner of the G. Curtis Yelland House (1910), by Wm. Drummond
Thanks to Paul, and to all. At the risk of blowing my own horn, here is a link to a review in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. I wish I knew a way to get the book some notice in Chicago and on the coasts, since I believe it is original. Last week 120 people attended a session of the Wisconsin Book Festival in Madison in which two books on Taliesin were discussed, mine and Priscilla Henken's Taliesin Diary, which records events of the year 1942-1943. It was a lively session on two very different Taliesins, 30 years apart. (I quipped that mine was more like Tuscany and hers more like Transylvania.) Wisconsin Public Television taped the session and, if you like, I will post a link here when it is available.
Last edited by RonMcCrea on Sun Nov 18, 2012 9:18 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Roderick Grant
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The book is very interesting, especially the photographs. But I do have two quibbles with fact-checking.
Brendan Gill did not ascertain FLW's actual birth year. That was done by Thomas Hines, who, as a student in the 1960s, researched every scrap of evidence available and wrote a dissertation on it in the late 60s.
In "Many Masks," Gill does not offer any evidence that Frank Lloyd Wright's birth name was Franklin Lincoln Wright, but merely speculates, assuming that "Frank" was too commonplace a name, and "Lincoln" was popular in the years after the assassination. He might as well have suggested that his real name was Zsa Zsa Gabor. No one should take Gill at his word, nor even quote his casual aside.
Brendan Gill did not ascertain FLW's actual birth year. That was done by Thomas Hines, who, as a student in the 1960s, researched every scrap of evidence available and wrote a dissertation on it in the late 60s.
In "Many Masks," Gill does not offer any evidence that Frank Lloyd Wright's birth name was Franklin Lincoln Wright, but merely speculates, assuming that "Frank" was too commonplace a name, and "Lincoln" was popular in the years after the assassination. He might as well have suggested that his real name was Zsa Zsa Gabor. No one should take Gill at his word, nor even quote his casual aside.
Thank you, Roderick. You are right and I will make adjustments in a second edition if I have the opportunity. I would like to hear about any other issues that chatters may notice. (I have discovered that I mistakenly have referred to Leonard Eaton as Lawrence, for example, and have mistranslated the Swedish word Jul as July instead of Christmas.)
Gill includes Hines in his acknowledgements but does not cite him on the matter of Wright's true birth date. Hines published his information in an article in the journal of my publisher, the Wisconsin Historical Society. ("Frank Lloyd Wright -- the Madison Years: Records Versus Recollections," Wisconsin Magazine of History, Winter 1967, 109-119.) That article was reprinted and also translated into Japanese, according to Robert Sweeney's annotated bibliography. I combed Sweeney several times but obviously missed this. My recollection of Gill, still fresh after 25 years, was not the same as the record.
On the matter of Frank vs. Franklin, Gill does mention "two family documents" as sources, but does not further describe them.
I thought it was interesting -- probably coincidental -- that Jane Porter named her son Frank while Wright was in Italy, then later changed it to Franklin after they had a falling out.
Gill includes Hines in his acknowledgements but does not cite him on the matter of Wright's true birth date. Hines published his information in an article in the journal of my publisher, the Wisconsin Historical Society. ("Frank Lloyd Wright -- the Madison Years: Records Versus Recollections," Wisconsin Magazine of History, Winter 1967, 109-119.) That article was reprinted and also translated into Japanese, according to Robert Sweeney's annotated bibliography. I combed Sweeney several times but obviously missed this. My recollection of Gill, still fresh after 25 years, was not the same as the record.
On the matter of Frank vs. Franklin, Gill does mention "two family documents" as sources, but does not further describe them.
I thought it was interesting -- probably coincidental -- that Jane Porter named her son Frank while Wright was in Italy, then later changed it to Franklin after they had a falling out.
What a thrill to have this from Jack Quinan, the eminence of Buffalo.
http://wright-up.blogspot.com/2012/12/n ... right.html
http://wright-up.blogspot.com/2012/12/n ... right.html