Frank Lloyd Wright: 21 Surprising Stories

Frank Lloyd Wright was an artist and social reformer. He was also once on an FBI watch list. He was praised by his peers for his tireless work ethic and scorned when he ran off to Europe with an ex-client's wife. His home was its own work of art, housing a fellowship for students of architecture. It was also the site of one of the most brutal mass murders in Wisconsin history. Wright's name generally conjures images of buildings – massive works of art of stone and metal – but he was also a man. As a human being, he had his own faults,his own questionable decisions, and his own secrets. This book contains details about a life that are often overlooked. While the stories are surprising, intriguing, and sometimes scandalous, the ultimate goal is to humanize an iconic figure of America's history. Wright was the father of the organic school of architecture, the creator of the world-famous Guggenheim museum, and he was born naked to a poor Baptist minister in the American Midwest. The 21 Facts are separated into sections that are organized chronologically (more or less), from his own birth to the birth of his career, from his rise to fame to his death and legacy. While historians continue to dispute many details of the architect's life – with some of the mythology coming from Wright himself – this book presents the truth as accurately as possible.