🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Peter Matthiessen
Peter went to St. Bernard’s School, the Hotchkiss School, and Yale University, where he got his BA in 1950, spending his junior spent at the Sorbonne. He briefly served in the U. S. Navy from 1945 to 1947. While at Yale, he majored in English, published short stories (one story won the Atlantic Prize), and studied zoology. Peter soon moved back to Paris after he married and resolved to take the career of a writer, where he associated with other expatriate American writers like Irwin Shaw, William Styron, and James Baldwin. While there he became one of the founders (along with Thomas Guinzburg, George Plimpton, Ben Morreale, Harold L. Humes, and Donald Hall) of The Paris Review, the renowned literary magazine.
All Book Series by Peter Matthiessen
On the River Styx and Other Stories
Series opener · book 1 of 2 · published 1989
The Peter Matthiessen Reader
Latest in the series · book 2 of 2 · published 2000
Are We There Yet?
Latest in the series · book 23 of 23 · published 2010 Co-authored · Peter Cunningham
The Mysticism of Sound and Music
Book 10 of 17 · published 1996 Anthology · Hazrat Inayat Khan
The Five Houses of Zen
Book 13 of 17 · published 1997 Anthology · Thomas Cleary
The Sutra of Hui-neng, Grand Master of Zen
Book 14 of 17 · published 1998 Anthology · Thomas Cleary,Hui-Neng
The Essence of Buddhism
Book 16 of 17 · published 2001 Anthology · Traleg Kyabgon
Lieh-tzu
Latest in the series · book 17 of 17 · published 2001 Anthology · Eva Wong
The Campfire Collection: Spine-tingling Tales to Tell in the Dark
Series opener · book 1 of 2 · published 2000
Better Than Fiction: True Travel Tales From Great Fiction Writers
Latest in the series · book 2 of 2 · published 2012
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Peter Matthiessen?
Peter went to St. Bernard’s School, the Hotchkiss School, and Yale University, where he got his BA in 1950, spending his junior spent at the Sorbonne. He briefly served in the U. S. Navy from 1945 to 1947.
Which Peter Matthiessen series should I start with?
The best place to start is The African Trilogy series, the earliest of Peter Matthiessen's multi-book series: it opens with The Tree Where Man Was Born (1972) and runs to 3 books across 1972–1991, ending with African Silences (1991). Peter Matthiessen's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.
How many books has Peter Matthiessen written?
Peter Matthiessen has 59 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1957 and 2014. 24 of them belong to 3 named series — the largest being the Shambhala Dragon Editions series with 17 books — and 35 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Peter Matthiessen's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Peter Matthiessen's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are The African Trilogy (1972–1991, 3 books), Shambhala Dragon Editions (1986–2001, 17 books) and Shadow Country (1990–2008, 4 books).
How are Peter Matthiessen's books organised into series?
This guide splits Peter Matthiessen's 59 books into 3 named series and 35 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Shambhala Dragon Editions (17 books, 1986–2001); Shadow Country (4 books, 1990–2008); The African Trilogy (3 books, 1972–1991).