Lewis Mumford, a Life

Donald Miller has written an exceptionally engaging and perceptive biography of Lewis Mumford, one of America's most capacious and fertile thinkers, exploring not only his exceptional career but the untidy and sometimes tittilating aspects of his personal life.Mumford's obsessive need for women is examined with depth and honesty without sinking into tawdry tabloidism.It is a long book but moves along at the pace of a well written novel.The pity is that Mumford's warnings for America's future were not heeded lending even greater relevance to Ralph Waldo Emerson's depiction of late 19th century America, "Things are in the saddle and ride mankind" .

More people need to discover Mumford. I found the parts on his personal life to be fascinating and worthwhile. An extremely well-researched, well-balanced, and engaging book about a truly great American. Why can't all biographies be like this?

All in all, this is a decent biography of Mumford, who will probably be remembered as America's last true renaissance man. One major flaw though, is that the book really bogs down about halfway through with way too much information about Mumford's many extramarital affairs. It would have been better off to spend more time on his writings and other work.