Death in a Prairie House: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Murders

Here we have a book that is part biography, part architectural analysis and part true crime expose'. It can be said that it provides a reasonable overview of Wright's early 'first career', his flight to Europe with the wife of a client, the ensuing scandal and his need to construct a rural redoubt, Taliesin, as a shelter from society at large. Discussion of his publicly stated rational for these actions as well as speculation as to the real reasons is provided.All of this is prologue to the crime that is at the heart of this book: the murder of Wright's 'soul mate' Mamah Borthwick Cheney, 6 others and the destruction by fire of Taliesin. The aftermath is also here. The capture and ultimate fate of the murderer, the effect on Wright, the man, and his later architecture. Wright devotees will find the occassional nugget of new information, but much of this ground has been mined before by other biographers. Drennan's conclusion that Wright's architecture subsequently turned almost fortress like is easy to accept, psychologically a neat fit and upon closer examination wrong. The factors that caused Wright's abandoning of the Prairie style were in place before the tragedy and played out well after it.What we are really to be interested in here, judging by the hatchet on the dust jacket, is the crime. A horrendous crime indeed, involving enough blood, gore and roasted flesh to do a Hollywood slasher movie proud. A detailed reconstruction of the murders is put forward, with various alternatives presented. The perpetrator's motive, thin as it was, is also discussed. Oddly, given that this is a book at least partially about architecture, no floor plan of the crime scene is provided. The extensive prose description of the killers movements would seem to have required the inclusion of one. Most curiously, a careful study of the endnotes will reveal the apparent contradiction of a major portion of the crime reconstruction scenario put forward by the author. Seemingly other, late discovered evidence including a post fire photo of Taliesin has caused him to doubt his own theory. If so, why not rework your text? Why not include the photo?In summation, if your primary interest in Wright is his architecture you may wish to pass this one up. If you wish to learn something of the 'trials & tribulations' the man had to survive in order to create the ground breaking architecture of his 'second career', give it a look.

Great book with much information about Mr. Wright, architecture, the murders etc. I gave it a four star rating because I found the writing style a bit choppy and sentence structure a bit to be desired….having to often re-read passages, but the book is well worth the read.

This story is fascinating and it’s rarely told when reading about Frank Lloyd Wright but it’s incredible and had to have an impact on his future work. The book drags a bit for the first part of the book but then it becomes interesting and gives different opinions on how things happened on that horrific day. Facts are separated from hearsay and it’s a good book for FLW fans interested in this part of his life.

Drennan's "Death In a Prairie House" is as good a true crime novel as the best Ann Rule books. Drennan meticulously starts at the beginning, as any good true crime novel should, with the parents of Frank lloyd Wright and carefully creates a profile that goes a long way to explaining the reason for Wright's adult behavior. It's fascinating.I first read about Frank Lloyd Wright and Mameh Borthwick in the book "Loving Frank." The story so fascinated me that I wanted to learn more about this strange and horrific tragedy. "Death In a Prairie House" goes a long way to filling in some of the blanks. What's more, Drennan's writing ability is amazing. What else has this guy written, because I want to read it, gosh darnit! Each of his sentences are brilliantly crafted yet completely easy to understand. In addition, he is a true artist who uses vocabulary as his medium! His use and placement of words is truly breathtaking.I only wish there was more we could learn of Mameh, Lloyd's "feminist mistress." "Loving Frank" probably provides the best portrait, but it would be nice to know a bit more about her from a biographical standpoint. Drennan does not seem particularly sympathetic to Mameh, nor does he chastise her outright. I suppose he wants to leave it up to the reader to decide or maybe allow history to settle the score once and for all.What you will come away with after reading "Death In a Praire House" is: an open jaw (how can something so horrific have happened?), a better understanding of Frank Lloyd Wright and the progression of his works, and a bit of jealously for the author who can write so well, as well as a whetted appetite for more writing from him.

While most facts appear to be accurate, there is a problem with his descriptions about Martha. Pages 94 through page 106 we get a description of a Martha who has managed to survive the fire by 3 hours with her "burned lips seemed silently to mouth Edna's name." (p. 106) However, on page 116 we are told that on the back seat there was a wooden box that held the remains of the Cheney children . . . but the box is described as a "painfully small box, easily carried in one hand." This is a critical error. (I have friends who have read this book and come away with the impression that there were very few remains found for either of the Cheney children.) Obviously, if Martha was intact enough to survive for three hours she would be intact enough for a coffin large enough to hold a 7 year old child. John's remains, on the other hand, would go in a container that small. Other authors also comment about Martha's body being fairly intact while John's remains were pretty well consumed by the fire making it necessary to sift through the ashes to find the remains that they did find. I think the author could have been a little more accurate with these details. Perhaps, it is a poor choice of words at this point but it gives the impression that there were not any significant remains left for either child. After all, coffins for children are significantly smaller than those for adults and Martha was only 7 and may have been a petite child, at that. However, I would not deem this to be "small enough to be carried easily with one hand." Most researchers agree that John's few remains were placed in the same casket as Martha.

Having enjoyed reading "Loving Frank", by Nancy Horan, I had been trying to find this book for ages, without success. Thanks to you, you got it for me, from Detroit! Obviously this is written by an Academic but gives you lots of interesting background information on the Frank Lloyd Wright/MamahCheney affair and what followed. An excellent account of a tragic event.

I was intrigued with the story of frank Lloyd Wright life, especially the murder of his lover, mamah bourton. And this book provides a lot of information, without too much judgement. Very interesting!

Un saggio su un episodio poco noto della storia americana e dell'architettura, una ricerca approfondita sui fatti che sconvolsero l'america con un efferato mass-murder e fecero cambiare drasticamente il modo di vedere l'architettura a F.L. Wright

Good value. good quality and fast service.