Like an American heiress in a tale by Henry James, Iris Origo was born into a world of unfair advantages of education, money, environment, and opportunity. She used her birthright wisely, traveling the world, studying art with Berenson, and, with her Italian husband, improving the land and the lot of the peasants in the Val d’Orcia of Tuscany. She tells her life story in the book Images & Shadows.