The eminent American opera composer and librettist Carlisle Floyd (b. 1926) was honored by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2008. Holliday, himself an opera director and composer, undertook this biography as a labor of love, offering a thoroughly researched account of the man, his music, and his times. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)