Synopses & Reviews
The acclaimed National Book Award winner gives us his first major work of nonfiction in a decade: a collection of spellbinding new essays that, read together, form a jigsaw-puzzle portrait of an extraordinary man.
With the publication of his best-selling Of Wolves and Men, and with the astonishing originality of Arctic Dreams, Barry Lopez established himself as that rare writer whose every book is an event, both with critics and among his enormous readership. In About this Life he assembles essays of great wisdom and insight: farflung travel (from remote Hokkaido Island to the Galapagos) and naturalist provocations (why do we deprive people with intimate knowledge of the land -- small-scale farmers, Native Americans, cowboys, native Hawaiians, -- of political power?); pure adventure (a dizzying series of around-the-world journeys with air freight -- everything from penguins to pianos); as well as never-before-published memory pieces that represent his most personal writing to date.
A book at once vastly erudite yet intimate, a magically wrought work by a major American writer at the top of his form.
Synopsis
The author travels through the American Southwest and Alaska, discussing endangered wildlife and forgotten cultures.
Synopsis
In Crossing Open Ground, Barry Lopez weaves the same invigorating spell as in his National Book Award-winning classic Arctic Dreams. Here, he travels through the American Southwest and Alaska, discussing endangered wildlife and forgotten cultures. Through his crystalline vision, Lopez urges us toward a new attitude, a re-enchantment with the world that is vital to our sense of place, our well-being . . . our very survival.
About the Author
Barry Lopez is the author of six works of nonfiction and eight works of fiction. His writing appears regularly in Harper's, The Paris Review, DoubleTake, and The Georgia Review. He is the recipient of a National Book Award, an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and other honors. He lives in western Oregon.