What forces helped shape the output of this high-living, often arrogant, but immensely talented composer? This fascinating collection includes Simonetta Puccini's essay full of intimate details about her family, as well as writings by experts on the racist politics behind the creation of Madama Butterfly; Puccini's fascination with American culture as exemplified in Fanciulla del West; his grappling with twentieth-century musical practices in Trittico and Turandot; and the changes that early recording technology sparked in turn-of-the-century operatic performance style. This informative volume offers 27 photographs and drawings, select bibliographies, a chronology of Puccini's life and works, a dramatis personae of the countless individuals who played a role in Puccini's career, a list of first performances, and plot summaries of all the operas.