Peter Beard was larger than life from his exceptional talent as a photographer, to his love of Africa, and beautiful women. He visited Kenya as a young man and fell in love with Africa, perhaps his most enduring love affair. He married three times, but he couldn’t resist taking many lovers. He was the life of the party, but could never seem to pay his bills and often touched his friends to pick up meals and hotel bills.
There was also a dark side. He took drugs and drank to excess. He may have had an undiagnosed mental illness for many years. However, in his later years it manifested as depression and eventually dementia. His death was almost as iconic as his life, wandering off from his home in Hamptons to die in a forest and not be discovered for days.
The author was the perfect person to write this biography being a friend to Beard for many years. He tells all the amusing and dangerous stories, but he also manages to make Beard come to life as a complex individual. I enjoyed this book. If’s fun to read because of the famous people and incidents, but it also leaves you thinking about the man and how he lived an exceptional life.
I received this book from St. Martin’s Press for this review.
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