Plagued by Fire

The Dreams and Furies of Frank Lloyd Wright

By: Paul Hendrickson

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

Frank Lloyd Wright has long been known as a rank egotist who held in contempt almost everything aside from his own genius. Harder to detect, but no less real, is a Wright who fully understood, and suffered from, the choices he made.

This is the Wright whom Paul Hendrickson reveals in this masterful biography: the Wright who was haunted by his father, about whom he told the greatest lie of his life. And this, we see, is the Wright of many other neglected aspects of his story: his close, and perhaps romantic, relationship with friend and early mentor Cecil Corwin; the eerie, unmistakable role of fires in his life; the connection between the 1921 Black Wall Street massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the murder of his mistress, her two children, and four others at his beloved Wisconsin home.

In showing us Wright’s facades along with their cracks, Hendrickson helps us form a fresh, deep, and more human understanding of the man. With prodigious research, unique vision, and his ability to make sense of a life in ways at once unexpected, poetic, and undeniably brilliant, he has given us the defining book on Wright.

Lyrical, interesting and informative prose style

I have been a huge fan of Hendrickson since Hemingway's Boat. Highly recommend both works!

A Biography (with other topics)

This book is fascinating,beguiling,strangely written but overall an interesting take on the greatest American architect ever produced. What I liked about it is that it’s well written and gives several new perspectives on FLW and his life and work,and he definitely does a great job of tearing down the myths Mr. Wright told in his Autobiographies;in particular his parents and the “true” story of their divorce. The one major issue I have is that Mr. Hendrickson spends WAY too much time on retelling the events of August 15,1914. It must have been about half the book when added up with both the chapters dealing with the incident as well as the mentions of it throughout. While a major event in his life,it’s not the main story. This book would’ve been better as a full “cradle to grave” biography in my view,but that’s not what this is. However, Mr. Hendrickson is a gifted enough writer that the story overall is compelling enough to be read. I would recommend it for people who don’t know much about Frank Lloyd Wright and want to get a “taste” of his life,times and achievements.

Fascinating

Beautifully written, and extraordinarily narrated. Thoroughly enjoyed this book and was sorry to finish it.

Historic

Complicated, as was the topic. I loved the depth, while some descriptions were redundant or perhaps meant yo be whimsical. it certainly went into less traveled tangents, which shed much needed light on the rarely seen tragedies, conflicts and complex patina of FLW's Journey.

Frank Lloyd Wright

This is a skillfully crafted account of a very influential American. I benefitted greatly in lodging my brain in this book. Wright reigned in the first half of the twentieth century, an era of different technology and convention.