Charles Ives and His America

“When I decided to undertake serious research on Ives and began to delve into his papers, I became more and more convinced that the Ives Legend which has grown up around him gives a very imperfect picture of the man. I think that the key to an understanding of his place in American culture lies in his extreme artistic isolation. The creative artist in America has a tradition of being isolated, of lacking an audience. But nearly all such artists have had at least a small circle of friends who sustained them artistically and intellectually. Ives had nothing of the kind during his creative years; he was about as close to complete isolation as it is possible for a creative artist to be.” —From the author’s preface