He skipped his senior year at college to go to Europe, where he was befriended by a Countess, was kept a prisoner in a castle by a mad Count, and almost met Mussolini—close enough to land him in an Italian jail. Wright Morris returned to the States and went on to become probably the most experimental American novelist of the last century. He ended up with almost every award and prize that a novelist can earn, and his work was praised over and over again by many of our most prestigious critics. In addition to publishing thirty-four books, he was also an eminent photographer. He not only had his work shown in numerous museums and galleries around the country, but his photographs were also displayed throughout five "photo-text" books—a form that he pioneered.