Model American Abroad

Status: Available

Page Count: 302

Edition: First

ISBN: 978-1-59092-405-1

SRP (USD): $18.99

Size: 5.5x8.5 trade paperback

Cover: Blue Artisans

Genre(s): Nonfiction

Homepage: John Virtue

"Though Dickinson mingled with the social and cultural cream of the crop, his true love was always rural kids and campesinos. Countless youngsters, many now adults, can see or walk or are alive, thanks to Dickinson's selfless efforts. In hundreds of tiny ranches he was greeted with hugs and tears of joy. The departure of the skinny, soft-spoken, compassionate and cultured gentleman marks the end of an era in San Miguel. Were more of us like him, San Miguel de Allende would be the exemplary international community."

-- Sareda Milosz

El Universal

Mexico City

Stirling Dickinson was the man most responsible for the Mexican mountainside town of San Miguel de Allende becoming a world-class art center and a favored retirement destination for thousands of Americans and other foreigners.

Over nearly five decades, Dickinson ran three art schools which he helped found. But he never sought recognition, dressed poorly and lived an ascetic life that belied the fortune he had inherited from his Chicago family. A shy bachelor, he anonymously helped the town's poorest residents and those who lived in the countryside.

Yet Dickinson led an adventuresome life, tramping along Mexico's coast during World War II looking for - and finding - evidence of German and Japanese activity. He later joined the OSS, the precursor of the CIA.

Biographer John Virtue paints the vivid, fascinating details of Stirling Dickinson's life with prose that create the man and bring him to life on the page. Complete with an extensive photo gallery, Model American Abroad is the fundamental biography of this remarkable philanthropist.

Model American Abroad