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Top of the pile
89
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
84/100Critics
93/100Scholars
Author:
Barry Lopez, Rebecca Solnit
Publisher:
Random House
Date:
May 31, 2022
An ardent steward of the land, fearless traveler, and unrivaled observer of nature and culture, Barry Lopez died after a long illness on Christmas Day 2020. The previous summer, a wildfire had consumed much of what was dear to him in his home place and the community around itâa tragic reminder of the climate change of which he'd long warned. At once a cri de coeur and a memoir of both pain and wonder, this remarkable collection of essays adds indelibly to Lopez's legacy, and includes previously unpublished works, some written in the months before his death. They unspool memories both personal and political, among them tender, sometimes painful stories of his childhood in New York City and California, reports from expeditions to study animals and sea life, recollections of travels to Antarctica and other extraordinary places on earth, and meditations on finding oneself amid vast, dramatic landscapes. He reflects on those who taught him, including Indigenous elders and scientific mentors who sharpened his eye for the natural world. We witness poignant returns from his travels to the sanctuary of his Oregon backyard, adjacent to the McKenzie River. And in prose of searing candor, he reckons with the cycle of life, including his own, andâas he has done throughout his careerâwith the dangers the earth and its people are facing.
What The Reviewers Say
[Lopez's] final collection of essays, Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World, should remind readers just how wide-ranging, artful, and deeply personal his writing could be.
Lopez did not take the task of writing lightly.
Lopez observed the world with ardent and inquisitive concentration and shared his findings and musings in works of tensile strength, lambent beauty, and descriptive and moral precision.
An apt swan song, an ode to places both far-flung and close to home.
