Books by Henry David Thoreau

Robert Pepperman Taylor's new edition clarifies the specific political and philosophical contexts in which Thoreau composed Civil Disobedience.

This illustrated edition of Walden features 66 photographs by Herbert W. Gleason, one of the great American landscape photographers of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Gleason, who had a special love for what he called "e;the simple beauty of New England,"e; became interested in Thoreau's work when commissioned in 1906 by the Houghton Mifflin Company to illustrate their edition of The Writings of Henry David Thoreau. With the help of the few surviving people who had known Thoreau, Gleason searched out the exact places Thoreau had described-all of them still looking much as they had when Thoreau knew them-and photographed them. Gleason became so interested in the project that he continued to photograph Thoreau country for more than forty years. Most of the photographs reproduced here were chosen by Gleason himself for an edition of Walden he planned but never published.Originally published in 1973.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Originally published in 1854, Walden, or Life in the Woods, is a vivid account of the time that Henry D. Thoreau lived alone in a secluded cabin at Walden Pond. It is one of the most influential and compelling books in American literature. This new paperback edition--introduced by noted American writer John Updike--celebrates the 150th anniversary of this classic work. Much of Walden's material is derived from Thoreau's journals and contains such engaging pieces as "e;Reading"e; and "e;The Pond in the Winter."e; Other famous sections involve Thoreau's visits with a Canadian woodcutter and with an Irish family, a trip to Concord, and a description of his bean field. This is the complete and authoritative text of Walden--as close to Thoreau's original intention as all available evidence allows. For the student and for the general reader, this is the ideal presentation of Thoreau's great document of social criticism and dissent.

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"With quotable lines on every page, this is an important and affecting addition to the Thoreau shelf." -Booklist

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. This work reveals him as an increasingly confident taxonomist creating lists that distill his observations about plant leafing and seasonal birds.

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. This work comprises a single manuscript notebook of nearly five hundred pages that Thoreau filled between March 9 and August 18, 1853.

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. This volume presents nearly eight hundred manuscript pages of this Journal.

In the late summer of 1839 Thoreau and his elder brother John made a two-week boat-and-hiking trip from Concord, Massachusetts, to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. After John's sudden death in 1842, Henry began to prepare a memorial account of their excursion.

The most uplifting passages from Walden, from the essay "Civil Disobedience" and from the Journal of Thoreau's later years. Van Anglen distills Thoreau's massive body of work into 750 of his most profound, acute ideas on subjects ranging from the ecology movement to English literature.

Featuring nearly 100 luminous watercolor illustrations, Thoreau and the Art of Life collects eloquent passages from the writings of the seminal author and philosopher. Drawn mainly from his journals, the short excerpts provide fascinating insight into his thought processes by presenting his raw, unedited feelings about the things that meant the most to him. The book reflects Thoreau’s deep beliefs and ideas about nature, relationships, creativity, spirituality, aging, simplicity, and wisdom. By eloquently expressing his thoughts about life and what gives it value, he leads the reader to a closer examination of life. Thoreau’s work asks us to live our own truths with joy and discipline and to recognize that we live in a universe of extraordinary beauty, mystery, and wonder. An avid reader of Thoreau, editor and illustrator Roderick MacIver organized the passages by themes: love and friendship; art, creativity, and writing; aging, disease, and death; human society and culture; nature and the human connection to the natural world; and wisdom, truth, solitude, and simplicity. The book includes a chronology and brief biography. Thoreau’s words of wisdom combined with MacIver’s vivid illustrations of the American landscape will resonate with nature enthusiasts and a broad range of readers interested in art, environmentalism, literature, and philosophy. “It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful, but it is more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour.”—Henry David Thoreau

From 1837 to 1861, Henry D Thoreau kept a "Journal" that would become the principal imaginative work of his career. This book presents Thoreau's "Journal".

Presents texts of nine essays including "'Natural History of Massachusetts', "Wild Apples", "A Winter Walk," "A Walk to Wachusett," and "The Landlord."

This choice collection of Thoreau's nature writing includes the essays 'The Succession of Forest Trees,' 'Walking', and 'Autumnal Tints' ? each one an explorative reach into the heart of the natural world.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) championed the belief that people of conscience were at liberty to follow their own opinion. This work is a selection of his writings that shows Thoreau the individualist and opponent of injustice.

Thoreau's political writing is intensely personal and direct, and this 1996 edition includes some of his most heartfelt and influential work. Nancy L. Rosenblum also examines Thoreau's life and analyses the themes of citizenship and resistance that have made him an enduring influence in political philosophy and practice.

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 "e;tonic of wildness,"e; 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 "e;another world"e; 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.

"Om at vandre" er Henry David Thoreaus kærlighedserklæring til naturen og kunsten at vandre. Samtidig rummer de to essays, som den lille bog består af, hans mere eller mindre direkte kritik af det civiliserede, stillesiddende liv: ”Jeg tror ikke, at jeg kunne bevare mit helbred og livsmod uden i det mindste fire timer hver dag – og ofte mere end det – at vandre gennem skove og over høje og marker, absolut fri fra alle verdslige sysselsættelser. […] Når jeg tænker på, at håndværkeren og købmanden opholder sig i deres værksted eller butik ikke blot hele formiddagen, men den lange eftermiddag med, siddende med korslagte ben så mange af dem – som om benene var skabt til at sidde på og ikke til at stå eller gå på – så synes jeg, de fortjener en vis respekt, fordi de ikke for længst har hængt sig alle som en.” For mere information: www.bogreservatet.dk

I dette essay argumenterer Thoreau for at arbejde skal være noget, vi har lyst til, hvis livet skal være værd at leve. Hvis det blot gøres for at tjene en skilling, mister livet sin mening.

"Jeg går varmt ind for det motto, at den bedste regering er den, somregerer mindst..."Således indleder den amerikansk filosof, pacifist og individualist Henry David Thoreau sit nok mest berømte essay CIVIL ULYDIGHED fra 1849. Han blev inspireret til sit essay, da han i 1846 tilbragte en nat i fængsel for at have nægtet at betale sin militærskat. Amerika var på det tidspunkt i krig med Mexico, en krig, som Thoreau af princip var imod, da han udelukkende anså den for at være en ekspansionskrig. Resultatet af krigen blev, at Amerika kunne tilføje Californien til sine besiddelser – en stat, som den daværende præsident Polk flere gange forgæves havde forsøgt at købe.Thoreau accepterede ikke det almindelige krav i et demokrati om, at borgerne bør overholde og anerkende alle dets love, også selvom de måtte finde dem uretfærdige. Han nærede en grundlæggende mistillid til staten og nægtede at anerkende den som den øverste myndighed. "Min eneste forpligtelse er til enhver tid at gøre, hvad jeg finder ret og rigtigt." Thoreau mente, at man kun er forpligtet på at gøre det, man i følge sin egen dybeste overbevisning mener, er det rigtige. Samvittigheden bød ham trods.Siden har ideen om civil ulydighed dannet skole og inspireret mange senere generationer til politisk aktivisme, bl.a. Gandhi og Martin Luther King.