"HP Lovecraft : The Mysterious Man Behind the Darkness" by Charlotte Montague
This is a wonderful book about Lovecraft, the man,the writer and his influences beyond his death.
Fully illustrated with photos of him, his family & friends, cover photos and the like.
Montague goes into detail about Lovecraft's childhood & his adult life in such a way that it doesn't bore the reader to death with trivial details and is really brisk, fun reading. A full-on biography is not what you get here but it does delve deeply enough for the reader to understand why Lovecraft was the way he was.
Again, almost every page has illustrations from everything from family photos to cover art from "Weird Tales" and "Astounding Stories" & beyond!
Surprisingly, there is only a half page on page 101 (out of 192 pages) that deals with Lovecraft's racism. At a time of "cancel culture", I am glad that the author kept this aspect of Lovecraft from becoming the main focus. He was what he was, his work is what it is.
Montague looks at many of Lovecraft's influential works & his "circle of friends".
The book itself is a full color, glossy affair that is gorgeous to behold. A well crafted book all-around, I'd say.
I fully enjoyed this book & it will remain in my collection.
For Lovecraft fans, I highly recommend it.
