Oliver La Farge, in his professional career, combined his knowledge of social science and his skills as a creative writer. His full name, Oliver Hazard Perry La Farge, points to predecessors who were identified with both technical discipline and creative achievement. His great-grandfather, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, was the naval hero who defeated the Tripoli pirates in 1811 and two years later led the American fleet successfully against the British warships on Lake Erie, sending the famous message: "We have met the enemy and they are ours." La Farge's grandfather, John La Farge, was a well-known artist whose mural paintings adorned a number of New York churches; and his father, Christopher Grant La Farge, was a graduate in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He provided designs for homes, business structures, and churches, among them the original drawings for the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New...