Author Peter Matthiessen, 86, died on Saturday, April 5, after a year-long battle with Leukemia. Matthiessen “was a man of many parts: littérateur, journalist, environmentalist, explorer, Zen Buddhist, professional fisherman and, in the early 1950s, undercover agent for the Central Intelligence Agency.” His impassioned nonfiction explored the endangered wilds of the world. His fiction often placed his mysterious protagonists in a personal heart of darkness. He holds the distinction of being the only writer to win the National Book Award in both fiction and nonfiction. Click on the link for more on Matthiessen,   “In Paradise” (2014), his last novel, is the Nichols Library’s April MVSB Book of the Month selection.