Book Description

These thirteen selections from the polemical writings of Henry D. Thoreau represent every stage in his twenty-two years of active writing. This edition, introduced by writer and historian Howard Zinn, is a microcosm of Thoreau's literary career. It allows the reader to achieve a full sense of Thoreau's evolution as a writer and thinker. Most famous of these essays is "Resistance to Civil Government," better known as "Civil Disobedience." Still a standard text in American high schools, it has long inspired nonviolent protest around the world. It influenced those who opposed apartheid in South Africa and motivated international anti-war demonstrators during 1960s and 1970s. "Civil Disobedience" will surely continue to influence generations of readers for years to come.

Customer Reviews (3)

One of the greatest American prose stylists.
Mind you, this isn't idle worship - this book is a masterpiece of American Literature, and along with 'Civil Disobedience', represents one of the greatest literary minds America has ever known.Thoreau stands with Dickinson, Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman as one of the greats of his era.Indeed, in the 1850's when 'Walden' was originally published, it occasionally sat beside 'Moby-Dick' and 'Song of Myself' on book shop shelves.In reading Thoreau, one comes to understand the scholar and the naturalist that have so profoundly come together next to Walden Pond; their combination seems to express some of the most basic underpinnings of American life.More than that however, their intertwining through insight and spiritualism evokes a thoughtful reverence for life in its entirety.Thoreau's ruminations are striking, not merely for their deep beauty and sentiment, but for their delving examination of the human soul.The way in which he blends the substantive and the sublime, bringing the reader to Walden Pond in mind, body, and soul, deserves praise as one of the highest forms of art.One cannot help but wonder at the depth - of Thoreau, of the spirit, and of Walden Pond.

scholarly oversight of Thoreau
I really enjoyed Walden, it's a very deep philosophical book. Thoreau isvery insightful, and he is also very intelligent. I admire his capabilityto digress on different subjects and expand on the topics. His profoundstatments make an individual contemplate and search his inner soul for histrue identity. This book, if read carefully and with much thought, canreally impact one's life. It can help one search themselves and thinkdifferently about life in general. I would encourage people to read thisbook if they have a good grasp on their life because it could be confusingand somewhat depressing at times, depending on the maturity level of theindividual. If one has an interest to read this, it can be very enjoyable,and challenging at the same time.

scholarly oversight of Thoreau
I really enjoyed Walden, it's a very deep philosophical book. Thoreau isvery insightful, and he is also very intelligent. I admire his capabilityto digress on different subjects and expand on the topics. His profoundstatments make an individual contemplate and search his inner soul for histrue identity. This book, if read carefully and with much thought, canreally impact one's life. It can help one search themselves and thinkdifferently about life in general. I would encourage people to read thisbook if they have a good grasp on their life because it could be confusingand somewhat depressing at times, depending on the maturity level of theindividual. If one has an interest to read this, it can be very enjoyable,and challenging at the same time. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (8)

The Mind Reader
How could this man have read every thought of mine over 100 years before my birth?! Timeless truth in all of his writings...not just this one.This is a most intimate example being his personal journal. Every word, every well thought out phrase speaks to my heart and idea of what truth should look and sound like.It should make you catch your breath and Thoreau absolutely accomplishes this for me.

Good start on the "other" Thoreau
We all know Walden and some of the other famous essays but the journals are sometimes hard to get through. This book of excerpts provides some of the gems from the journals and shows Thoreau in a new way.

Quintessential
I found this book on the shelf at my school's library after I had read a selection of Ralph Waldo Emerson's in which he praised Thoreau for being a particularly clear-seeing individual.I had never read Thoreau and did not know who he was, but this book immediately became my most valued possession after my own journal.

The editor did a wonderful job of selecting from Thoreau's many (often tedious) writings those that offer most in the way of communicating what he felt about life, love, society, government, death, religion, nature, science, beauty and self.The writing is in many ways flawless.Along with Emerson and Whitman, Thoreau embodied the spirit of American Transcendentalism, the philosphy under which one aspired to realize a word beyong the physical and social world."The Heart of Thoreau's Journals" is the best evidence that Henry David Thoreau realized such a world and lived contently in it many of the days of his life.

This book is probably the best possible choice for anyone looking to read or know Thoreau.It is necessarily as honest as any other work.And unlike "Walden" or other commercially-produced works, it lacks the endless musings and explanations of ideas and events for the audience's information.It is only the bare naked thoughts and feelings of the author.I would suggest it as preliminary reading for anyone who wants to read his other books.It will give you the foundation of an appreciation for Thoreau that puts all other work in proper perspective.

"The Roaring Of The Wind Is My Wife"
The Heart Of Thoreau's Journals provides readers with an intimate glimpse into the heart and mind of American literature's premier individualist.Consolidated into 218 concise pages by Odell Shepard from the 39 volumes Thoreau left behind upon his death at 45 in 1862, the journals reveal Thoreau as an irreverent and shrewd observer of the human character who was happily fated with the gift of forever seeing the king riding proudly in public without clothes ("The mass never comes up the standard of its best member, but on the contrary degrades itself to the level with the lowest," "After all, the field of battle possesses many advantages over the drawing - room. There is at least no room for pretension or excessive ceremony, no shaking of hands or rubbing of noses, which makes one doubt your sincerity, but hearty as well as hard hand - play. It at least exhibits one of the faces of humanity, the former only a mask," "This lament for a golden age is only a lament for golden men").

Requiring solitude in the manner most require food and shelter, the philosophical, ascetic Thoreau lived most of his life in isolation ("The poet must keep himself unstained and aloof") as an ardent lover and keen observer of the natural world ("All of nature is my bride," "My profession is to be always on the alert to find God in nature, to know his lurking - places, to attend all the oratorios, the operas, in nature").A comedic misanthrope ("I have lived some thirty - odd years on this planet, and I have yet to hear the first syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from my seniors," "The society of young women is the most unprofitable I have ever tried"), Thoreau also wrote with sympathy, understanding, and concern about the townspeople whose company he preferred not to keep.Even his plain - spoken contempt for the boorish, the smug, the pretentious and the assertively conformist ("What men call social virtues, good fellowship, is commonly but the virtue of pigs in a litter, which lie close together to keep each other warm") was often tempered with humanity and matter - of - fact acceptance for the inevitable variations of man's psychology.The simple, the genuine, the uncomplicated and the sincere came in for high marks in Thoreau's estimation of people, places, and things.

A Harvard graduate who was born and spent most of his life in New England, bachelor Thoreau set the standard and defined the blueprint for all introverted American artists and thinkers to come. Though Thoreau wrote incessantly and found work as a lecturer, schoolteacher, editor, and tutor at different periods of his life, he typically worked as a gardener, handyman or land surveyor, and spent a particularly frustrating period working in his father's pencil factory. Though he knew himself to be misunderstood by most, Thoreau was uncomplaining ("Ah! How I have thriven on solitude and poverty! I cannot overstate this advantage"), confident, ultimately self - satisfied, and generally unconcerned with what, if anything, future generations would make of him. The respect, acknowledgement, and honor of society meant far less to him than his day - to - day, moment - to - moment freedom to continue to enjoy his perceptions, sensations, and ideas, which he rightfully understood to be his life's work and birthright.

As one of the founders of Transcendentalism, the idealistic Thoreau was a dryly passionate believer in man's capacity to overcome mundane (and often self - imposed) obstacles, identify and focus his attention on the eternal fundamentals of life, and enjoy personal communion with God by utilizing nature as a lens. The journals abound with declarative passages which readers have found enlightening, guiding, and inspirational for generations ("Despair and postponement are cowardice and defeat. Men were born to succeed, and not to fail,""We forever and ever and habitually underrate our fate...ninety - nine and one - hundredths of our lives we are mere hedgers and ditchers, but from time to time we meet with reminders of our destiny").Thoreau's journals, along with key American text and masterpiece Walden, represent the cream of his work.

"Write while the heat is in you."
I once sat through a very snide speech, by a very snide editor, who pontificated in a very snide manner, that "no one wants to read your journals." This editor was of course a fool- the very best writing is to be found in personal journals.Nowhere is this demonstrated to be more true than in Thoreau's. Or as he himself put it,"The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience." Well, these writings inflame the mind. Thoreau was that rarest of of divine gifts, a true Individual. I often wonder if he did not represent the highest point that anyone in our society ever reached- the high water mark of a civilization before steam engines, corporations, and mass education reduced us to our present state.

I was concerned that the journals might suffer by editing, especially if an academic type with a deconstructionist ax to grind got his hands on them. Mr. Shepard's brief introduction put my mind to rest. He obviously has a close sympathy with the spirit of Henry David Thoreau and his selections are masterful. As Shepard puts it: "With a fit audience, though few, he is likely to win a more thoughtful reading now that individuals are so obviously withering among us, now that men are quite obviously enslaved by machines, now that we have floundered about as far as we can in the bogs of stupidity, greed, and cowering compliance that he warned us against long ago."

If _Walden_ spoke to you, these journal entries will speak even more strongly to you. This is the spring from which _Walden_ and all the rest sprang. This is the soul of Thoreau. It is the soul of the true America before the Byzantine rot set in.

There is one line from the very first year of the journals that has never ceased to inspire me: "All fear of the world or consequences is swallowed up in a manly anxiety to do Truth justice." ... Read more

Book Description
Presenting essays by a distinguished array of contributors, the Companion is a valuable resource for historical and contextual material, whether on early writings such as "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers," on the monumental Walden, or on Thoreau's assorted journals and later books.It also serves in some ways as a biographical guide, offering new insights into his turbulent publishing career, and his brief but extraordinarily original life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A valuable guide to Thoreau's work...
This guide to Thoreau's work is a collection of thirteen essays by academic experts.Its topics include the evolution of Thoreau's reputation, the impact of Concord on his life and views, and the effects of his friendship with Emerson.Other essays discuss each of Thoreau's major works, placing them in the context of his life, his times, and his beliefs.Ronald Hoag's comments on Thoreau's natural history writings (whose topics include such seemingly unpoetic subjects as the dispersion of seeds) are especially helpful.They tie these seemingly disconnected "scientific works" to Thoreau's other writings by illuminating the philosophical threads that unite them.Best of all, most of the essays in this book are superbly written, in contrast to so many academic productions.They are clear, balanced, sensible, straightforward, well informed, and highly illuminating.My understanding and appreciation of Thoreau's work has been greatly enhanced by this remarkable book, which I strongly recommend.If you like Thoreau, you can buy this book with the assurance that it will enhance -- not disrupt -- your enjoyment. ... Read more

Book Description

From 1837 to 1861, Thoreau kept a Journal that began as a conventional record of ideas, grew into a writer's notebook, and eventually became the principal imaginative work of his career. The source of much of his published writing, the Journal is also a record of both his interior life and his monumental studies of the natural history of his native Concord, Massachusetts. In contrast to earlier editions, the Princeton Edition reproduces the Journal in its original and complete form, in a reading text that is free of editorial interpolations but keyed to a comprehensive scholarly apparatus.

Journal 6 comprises a single manuscript notebook of nearly five hundred pages that Thoreau filled between March 9 and August 18, 1853. During this period, Thoreau divided his energies among his increasingly professional studies as a naturalist in Concord, the revision of his Walden manuscript, and surveying, which provided him a living and established him more securely as a contributing member of the Concord community. Thoreau's writing and his understanding of natural history were enriched by surveying, which gave him the opportunity to regularly observe seasonal occurrences and other natural events in and around Concord. Thoreau recorded these observations in his Journal, making both literary and scientific use of them. Substantial passages from Journal 6 were incorporated into the sixth draft of Walden, and its observations formed the basis for later compilations of field ecology. They are made available here, along with Journal entries, completely unrevised. This volume will delight all custodians of literary and natural history and be an essential addition to the libraries of all Thoreau devotees.

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An in-depth psychological case study
Henry David Thoreau: Cycles and Psyche is a deep exploration of classic author Henry David Thoreau's self-declared "Insanity." Writen by expert psychiatric consultant Michael Sperber, Cycles and Psyche uses Icarian and Daedalian imagery in its search to identify masked affective disorders in the great writer. An in-depth psychological case study meant for intermediate to advanced psychology and literature students, Henry David Thoreau: Cycles and Psyche is unafraid to picture and scrutinize a side of the great Thoreau that not everyone dares to examine closely.
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Book Description
With their call for "simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!”, for self-honesty, and for harmony with nature, the writings of Henry David Thoreau are perhaps the most influential philosophical works in all American literature.

The selections in this volume represent Thoreau at his best. Included in their entirety are Walden, his indisputable masterpiece, and his two great arguments for nonconformity, Civil Disobedience and Life Without Principle. A lifetime of brilliant observation of nature--and of himself--is recorded in selections from A Week On The Concord And Merrimack Rivers, Cape Cod, The Maine Woods and The Journal.Download Description
In 1845 Henry David Thoreau left his pencil-manufacturing business and began building a cabin on the shore of Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts. This lyrical yet practical-minded book is at once a record of the 26 months Thoreau spent in withdrawal from society -- an account of the daily minutiae of building, planting, hunting, cooking, and, always, observing nature -- and a declaration of independence from the oppressive mores of the world he left behind. Elegant, witty, and quietly searching, Walden remains the most persuasive American argument for simplicity of life clarity of conscience. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Best
This is the best book that the United States of America has produced. America has failed to the extent that it has fallen beneath the level of these practical ideals.But it is never too late to put them into practice.

A questioning of life
Thoreau masterfully analyzes his in its purest form, he does away his allsuperfluous details. He forces the read to question his own existence. Heforces the reader to imagine life without technology, commotion andanything unnecessary. Besides his analysis in Walden, he takes a stand forthe maverick, for the individual, for the non-conformist. Lastly his socialcommentary especially about slavery shows how wrong our coutry had been. ... Read more

Book Description

Excursions presents texts of nine essays, including some of Henry D. Thoreau's most engaging and popular works, newly edited and based on the most authoritative versions of each. These essays represent Thoreau in many stages of his writing career, ranging from 1842--when he accepted Emerson's commission to review four volumes of botanical and zoological catalogues in an essay that was published in The Dial as "Natural History of Massachusetts"--to 1862, when he prepared "Wild Apples," a lecture he had delivered during the Concord Lyceum's 1859-1860 season, for publication in the Atlantic Monthly after his death. Three other early meditations on natural history and human nature, "A Winter Walk," "A Walk to Wachusett," and "The Landlord," were originally published in 1842 and 1843. Lively, light pieces, they reveal Thoreau's early use of themes and approaches that recur throughout his work. "A Yankee in Canada," a book-length account of an 1850 trip to Quebec that was published in part in 1853, is a fitting companion to Cape Cod and The Maine Woods, Thoreau's other long accounts of explorations of internal as well as external geography. In the last four essays, "The Succession of Forest Trees" (1860), "Autumnal Tints" (1862), "Walking" (1862), and "Wild Apples" (1862), Thoreau describes natural and philosophical phenomena with a breadth of view and generosity of tone that are characteristic of his mature writing. In their skillful use of precisely observed details to arrive at universal conclusions, these late essays exemplify Transcendental natural history at its best.

Book Description