Henry David Thoreau
Author
Publication Date
2004
Summary
One of the most famous non-fiction American books, Walden by Henry David Thoreau is the history of Thoreau's visit to Ralph Waldo Emerson's woodland retreat near Walden Pond. Thoreau, stirred by the philosophy of the transcendentalists, used the sojourn as an experiment in self reliance and minimalism… "so as to "live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not,
...9) Walden
Author
Publication Date
1942
Lexile Measure
1420L
Summary
In 1845 Thoreau, disdainful of America's commercialism and industrialism, left his home town in Massachusetts to begin a new life alone, in a hut on the north-west shore of Walden Pond. This is his account of this experiment in solitary living.
Author
Publication Date
1900
Summary
Thoreau's classic account of a river journey depicting the early years of his spiritual and artistic growth
This paperback edition of Henry D. Thoreau's A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers features an invaluable introduction by noted writer John McPhee. Unusual for its symbolism and structure, its criticism of Christian institutions, and its many-layered storytelling, this classic work was Thoreau's first published book.
In the late summer...
11) The Maine woods
Author
Series
Publication Date
1893
Summary
Published posthumously in 1864 and based on Henry David Thoreau's lengthy experiences in the forests of Maine on three separate occasions in 1846, 1853, and 1857, "The Maine Woods" is a captivating portrait of the largely unexplored region in the mid-1800s. Rich with the naturalistic detail that is common with Thoreau's writing, readers will delight in the exquisiteness with which Thoreau relates his experiences in nature. He took constant note of...
Author
Series
Publication Date
1906
Lexile Measure
1300L
Summary
A TRANQUIL VOYAGE OF SPIRITUAL DISCOVERY
In Walden, (Or, Life in the Woods) Henry David Thoreau details his 1845 retreat into a cabin he built near Walden Pond. Set amidst woodland owned by his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson, it served as Thoreau's immersion into nature and escape from the distractions of social life. He stayed for two years, two months and two days.
Thoreau used his time at Walden Pond to write his first book, A Week on...
Author
Publication Date
1997
Summary
Thoreau advocates for nonviolent protest in his classic manifesto Motivated by his disgust with the US government, Henry David Thoreau's seminal philosophical essay enjoins individuals to stand against the ruling forces that seek to erase their free will. It is the duty of a good citizen, he argues, not only to disobey a bad law, but also to protest an unjust government. His message of nonviolence and appeal to value one's own conscience over political...
Publication Date
[2024]
Summary
"In 'Resistance to Civil Government' (1849), better known as 'Civil Disobedience,' Henry David Thoreau writes about the night he spent in jail for refusing to pay taxes that he believed supported slavery and a war of expansion in Mexico. Urging us to act likewise on our own deepest convictions, he articulates individual conscience as a revolutionary force in American politics. No writer has made a more persuasive case for obeying a 'higher law' when...
