Twentieth-Century Man

The Wild Life of Peter Beard

By: Christopher Wallace

Narrated by: Will Damron

An exuberant biography of the life of the iconic photographer and naturalist Peter Beard, whose life and work captured the cultural imagination

Peter Beard lived an astonishing life. The artist, wildlife photographer, and bon vivant enthralled and inspired both because of his work and his legendary lifestyle. A scion of American industry turned explorer of Africa and environmental advocate, Beard embodied the extremes of his time: grand adventurer and sexually voracious partier, friend of everyone from the Rolling Stones to Jackie Onassis to Andy Warhol to Karen Blixen. And Beard had a passion—probably more like an obsession—with the faults of the entire human experiment, with the ways in which our consumption of the world’s resources have come to consume us all.

Beard’s outsize life and character—his death-defying documentation of both the endangered wildlife of Africa, and, closer to home, some of the world’s most beautiful women for a range of fashion magazines—animate this lively but authoritative biography. The journalist Christopher Wallace, long fascinated by Beard’s artistic legacy, adventurous spirit, and hard-partying persona, came to know him well later in Beard’s life. Capturing the varied social and cultural scenes that Beard moved through with glamorous ease over five decades, Wallace also makes a powerful case for the lasting impact of his work.

In Twentieth-Century Man, Wallace has rendered this towering figure in all of his contradictions and complexities—a deeply romantic and idiosyncratic personality, beloved by so many, whose sensibilities nonetheless remained firmly rooted in an era characterized by racist and colonialist attitudes. Stirring and visceral, Twentieth-Century Man is the definitive portrait of Peter Beard.

©2023 Christopher Wallace, C W (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

Regret

I regret wasting a credit on this. The dude was a narcissist and treated women like dirt.

Not a Very Likeable Subject

Peter Beard was a member of the "lucky sperm club" who pretty much did whatever he wanted. He romanced many beautiful women and even married Cheryl Tiegs. He cheated on every one of them. He created, I guess, somewhat memorable photos and collages. He claimed to be a supporter of African wildlife, even though he killed some big game.

Beard was also a manic depressive cocaine addict who treated a lot of people badly and seemed to think that only certain people counted. He was profoundly self-centered and, assuming the author has his facts straight, is probably charitably described as a jerk.

He did live an interesting life and certainly rubbed shoulders with luminaries in the art and music world. This book is perhaps best considered as providing an insider view of the New York/London jet set from the sixties and seventies.

This book left me pondering the incredible difference between the privileged and everyone else in the U.S. (and, as it turns out, other parts of the world). Beard used and transported drugs (mainly cocaine) over the world for years without consequence while ordinary folks were serving years in prison for smoking or selling a little marijuana. Beard beat up a guy in Africa, but mainly skated without consequence. There are just so many parts of this book where I found myself wishing Beard would experience some consequences, but they never came.

Of course, the foregoing objections are simply to the subject of the book. But there are other problems. Although the author does point out Beard's many faults, he borders on being sycophantic at points. And if a plain word would do, you can count on Wallace using some of the most obscure language, as if that would impress (it does not). I also think the author overstates Beard's importance and his foreshadowing of modern culture.

Overall, I was glad when this book was over.

It would have helped if a pdf of photos was provided with the book.

The narration is fine, but not great.

Just another book

I always was fascinated by Beard. I listened and the fascination disappeared. Beard seduced a lot of people particularly beautiful women( I wish the book included more about the seductions- so I can help some friends on their techniques). Ok, he was manic depressive but how good were his highs and how low were the lows. The author gives a nice chronology but no juicy tidbits that we crave.
After finishing, I felt there really wasn’t that much to write about. But there must have been something else that the book just did not share.
Fine read or listen for a long flight but nothing to slobber over.