Peter Matthiessen, mystical Renaissance man

Peter Matthiessen was a towering figure in 20th-century American letters. He was a naturalist, environmentalist, Zen Buddhist priest, teacher, world traveler, CIA agent, and a mystic. He was one of the first writers to be concerned about the extinction of animal species, the care of the environment, and man’s exploitation of indigenous people. His efforts earned him two National Book Awards, one for fiction and one for nonfiction.

Lance Richardson’s door-stopper biography, True Nature, the Pilgrimage of Peter Matthiessen, is the first biography written about him, though a documentary appeared in 2009. Collecting excerpts from newspaper articles, letters, memoirs, and books highlighting Matthiessen’s life events, philosophy, and writing, Richardson paints a vivid portrait. 

Born in 1927 to a wealthy family, Matthiessen died in 2014 at

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