Apologia [Hardcover]

Barry Lopez (Author), Robin Eschner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1998

Lopez offers a powerfully illustrated and eloquent response to the distressing deaths of animals on our roads. "Lopez leaves all the right things unsaid, and the silence resonates".--"Time". 23 illustrations.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 24 pages
• Publisher: University of Georgia Press; 1st Trade Edition edition (November 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0820320048
• ISBN-13: 978-0820320045
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 9.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,650,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Moving text, fine illustrations, June 12, 2000

By 

David J. Loftus (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apologia (Hardcover)

Despite having lived with a variety of pets over the years, from tropical fish to canines (a dog and two cats currently), I do not believe I can say I have a great feeling for animals, especially wild ones. I think the one time I really connected emotionally with them -- at least in my mind -- was when an acid trip kept me up all night in the Oregon high desert and, walking down a dusty road at dawn, I noticed small creatures scurry out of my way and felt their stinging reproach: Your species has already overrun the planet, they seemed to say to me; can't you let us have this one quiet time of the day to ourselves?

Robin Eschner, a California artist, has executed woodcut prints to accompany an essay by nature writer Barry Lopez regarding his thoughts and actions in response to ... road killed animals.

If you've never read Lopez's wonderful nature writing, travel essays, or fiction, get moving! This book might not be such a good introduction, despite the author's customary elegant, rich but ever-precise prose. (For a fine and easily digested survey of his work, try the recent collection _About This Life: Journeys on the Threshold of Memory_, and for Lopez full out and leisurely, go for _Arctic Dreams_.)

The subject matter of _Apologia_ is perhaps a bit in-your-face, though Eschner's tasteful and evocative artwork never is. The pictures cast long, stark shadows, but are never creepy, disgusting, or manipulative.

If you have a strong feeling for animals, at least some ambivalence about the domination of the American landscape by the combustion-engine carriage, and the price the former pay for unsought violent encounters with the latter -- or if you know someone who feels that way -- this thin, coffee-table-style volume would be a lovely and appropriate purchase.

And if you ever get the chance to see Lopez speak or read from his work, GO! He is a truly sensitive and moral man, and a magnificent writer.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Idea For A Book, September 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Apologia (Hardcover)

Barry Lopez is great. He loves the outdoors so much that he makes us love the outdoors. And the woodcut illustrations makes this a book that stays with you long after you've read it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very beautiful book, beautifully illustrated., November 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Apologia (Hardcover)

I can not drive by a dead animal on the side of the road without thinking of Ms. Eschner's woodcuts. Thank you.