In a career spanning over 50 years, he visited more than 80 countries, and wrote extensively about a variety of landscapes including the Arctic wilderness, exploring the relationship between human cultures and nature.
[3] Barry Lopez experienced years of sexual abuse as the victim of a serial child molester posing as a doctor who went by the name Harry Shier.
[3] As a young man, Lopez considered becoming a Catholic priest or a Trappist monk[3] before attending the University of Notre Dame, earning undergraduate and graduate degrees there in 1966 and 1968.
[2] Although he drifted away from Catholicism, daily prayer remained important to him as a continuous, respectful attendance to the presence of the Divine.
[7] In his career of over 50 years, he traveled to over 80 countries, writing extensively about distant and exotic landscapes including the Arctic wilderness, exploring the relationships between human cultures and wild nature.
[15] Crow and Weasel (1990) thematizes the importance of metaphor, which Lopez described in an interview as one of the definitive "passion[s]" of humanity.
[18] Slovic identifies "careful structure, euphony, and an abundance of particular details" as central characteristics of Lopez's work.