Although Gustav Mahler is seen today as one of the groundbreaking composers of the modern era, he remains widely misunderstood both as man and musician. In Mahler, Jonathan Carr reexamines Mahler's life and work through the circumstances leading to his death in 1911. The focus is on Mahler's last decade, his tempestuous marriage to the alluring Alma Schindler, his work as a ôsummer composerö in isolated huts in the country, his revolutionary achievements as director of the Vienna opera, and his final years in America. It sets the stage by looking into Mahler's earlier career as a talented, ambitious, and often ruthless conductor.