A man with a divided nature, Thomas Eakins painted two worlds in 19th-century America: one sure of its values and one that offered an uncertain vision of the changing times. From the shadow of his mother's depression to his fraught identity as a married man with homosexual inclinations, to his failure to sell his work, Eakins was marked by passion and melancholy. In this enlightening look at Eakins's defining artistic moments and relationships?with wife Susan MacDowell, with his friend Walt Whitman, and with several leading scientists?the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Grant sheds light on the motivations and desires of a founder of American realism. Along with 16 pages of color plates, the book also includes 65 black and white images.