Model American abroad : a biography of Stirling Dickinson / by John Virtue

Located in Gloria Grant Room - special collection of San Miguel de Allende authors.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [283]-285) and index.

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. 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.