Henry David Thoreau

In this authoritative text with generous annotations, a distinguished literary scholar has corrected errors and omissions from previous editions, with notes taken from Thoreau's draft manuscripts and quotes from sources Thoreau read.

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.

Henry D. Thoreau traveled to the backwoods of Maine in 1846, 1853, and 1857. Originally published in 1864, and published now with a new introduction by Paul Theroux, this volume is a powerful telling of those journeys through a rugged and largely unspoiled land. It presents Thoreau's fullest account of the wilderness. The Maine Woods is classic Thoreau: a personal story of exterior and interior discoveries in a natural setting--all conveyed in taut, masterly prose. Thoreau's evocative renderings of the life of the primitive forest--its mountains, waterways, fauna, flora, and inhabitants--are timeless and valuable on their own. But his impassioned protest against the despoilment of nature in the name of commerce and sport, which even by the 1850s threatened to deprive Americans of the "tonic of wildness," makes The Maine Woods an especially vital book for our own time.

This new paperback edition of Henry D. Thoreau's compelling account of Cape Cod contains the complete, definitive text of the original. Introduced by American poet and literary critic Robert Pinsky--himself a resident of Cape Cod--this volume contains some of Thoreau's most beautiful writings. In the plants, animals, topography, weather, and people of Cape Cod, Thoreau finds "another world" Encounters with the ocean dominate this book, from the fatal shipwreck of the opening chapter to his later reflections on the Pilgrims' landing and reconnaissance. Along the way, Thoreau relates the experiences of fishermen and oystermen, farmers and salvagers, lighthouse-keepers and ship captains, as well as his own intense confrontations with the sea as he travels the land's outermost margins. Chronicles of exploration, settlement, and survival on the Cape lead Thoreau to reconceive the history of New England--and to recognize the parochialism of history itself.

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 his interior life and of his monumental studies of the natural history of his native Concord, Massachusetts. Unlike earlier editions, the Princeton edition reproduces the Journal in its original and complete form, in a reading text free of editorial interpolations but keyed to a comprehensive scholarly apparatus. Journal 8: 1854 is edited from the 467-page notebook that Thoreau kept February 13-September 3, 1854. It reveals him as an increasingly confident taxonomist creating lists that distill his observations about plant leafing and seasonal birds. Two particularly significant public events took place in his life in the summer of 1854. On July 4, at an antislavery rally at Framingham, Massachusetts, Thoreau appeared for the first time in the company of prominent abolitionists, delivering as heated a statement against slavery as he had yet made. And on August 9, Ticknor and Fields published Walden, the book Thoreau had been working on since 1846. In Journal 8 Thoreau indicates that these public accomplishments, though satisfying, took a toll on his creative life and did not fully compensate him for the hours spent away from the woods.

The final harvest of our great nature writer’s last years, Wild Fruits presents Thoreau’s distinctly American gospel—a sacramental vision of nature in which "the tension between Thoreau the naturalist and Thoreau the missionary for nature’s wonders invigorates nearly every page" (Time). In transcribing the 150-year-old manuscript’s cryptic handwriting and complex notations, Thoreau specialist Bradley Dean has performed a "heroic feat of decipherment" (Booklist) to bring this great work to light. Readers will discover "passages that reach for the transcendentalist ideal of writing new scriptures, yet grounding this Bible in a vision of practical ecology" (Boston). Beautifully illustrated throughout with line drawings of the natural life Thoreau considers on his walks, Wild Fruits is "well worth any nature lover’s attention" (Christian Science Monitor).

The Spirit of Thoreau series is a fresh new collection of Thoreau's best writing and thinking on various themes, drawn from both unpublished and published sources. THOREAU ON WATER REFLECTING HEAVEN Edited by Robert France Thoreau's most famous book is named for a pond, and he had an almost mystical fascination with water. As he wrote in his journal, "Water indeed reflects heaven because my mind does — such is its own serenity — its transparency — & stillness." THOREAU ON WATER brings together his finest writing on one of his greatest passions. Author Biography: Born in Concord, MA in 1817, Henry David Thoreau is best know for his influential work, Walden, which was published by Ticknor & Fields in 1854.

The Spirit of Thoreau series is a fresh new collection of Thoreau's best writing and thinking on various themes, drawn from both unpublished and published sources. THOREAU ON LANDNATURE'S CANVASEdited by Joseph Valentine This elegant volume chronicles Thoreau's fascination with nature, from his well-known reflections on Walden to an unexpected meeting with loggers in the woods: "No doubt our employment is more alike than we suspect, and we are each serving the great Master's needs more than our own." He shows a Thoreau much broader in his interests and sympathies than most of us imagine.

Introduction by Ralph Waldo EmersonCommentary by Van Wyck Brooks and E. B. White Naturalist, philosopher, champion of self-reliance and moral independence, Henry David Thoreau remains not only one of our most influential writers but also one of our most contemporary. This unique and comprehensive edition gathers all of Thoreau's most significant works, including his masterpiece, Walden (reproduced in its entirety); A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers; selections from Cape Cod and The Maine Woods; as well as "Walking," "Civil Disobedience," "Slavery in Massachusetts," "A Plea for Captain John Brown," and "Life Without Principle." Taken together, they reveal the astounding range, subtlety, artistry, and depth of thought of this true American original. Includes a Modern Library Reading Group Guide

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.

Originally published in 1849 as Resistance to Civil Government, Thoreau's classic essay on resistance to the laws and acts of government that he considered unjust was largely ignored until the Twentieth Century when Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and anti-Vietnam War activists applied Thoreau's principles.

Thoreau has inspired generations of readers to think for themselves and to find meaning and beauty in nature. This sampling includes five of his most frequently read and cited essays: "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" (1849), "Life without Principle" (1863), "Slavery in Massachusetts" (1854), "A Plea for Captain John Brown" (1869) and "Walking" (1862).