Henry David Thoreau
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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,
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Thoreau's famous account of a year spent in a cabin at Walden Pond near Concord, during which he made many observations about nature, human life, and the importance of simplicity. Also includes his influential essay "Civil Disobedience," arguing that since what is law is not necessarily right, and just because the majority decides an issue doesn't automatically make that issue palatable to a man's conscience, individuals should sometimes oppose the...
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Thoreau's account of his 1839 boat trip is a finely crafted tapestry of travel writing, essays, and lyrical poetry. Thoreau interweaves descriptions of natural phenomena, the rural landscape, and local characters with digressions on literature and philosophy, the Native American and Puritian histories of New England, the Bhagavad Gita, the imperfections of Christianity, and many other subjects. Although it shares many of the themes in...
7) Nature
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English
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This version of Nature is an 1843 revision to the popular essay written and published in 1836. In the original essay, Emerson put forth the foundation of transcendentalism, and suggested that reality can be understood by studying nature. Within the essay, Emerson divides nature into four usages: Commodity, Beauty, Language and Discipline. These distinctions define how humans use nature for their basic needs, their desire for delight, their communication...
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English
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Civil Disobedience discusses Thoreau's arguments for civil disobedience-the deliberate violation of laws for reasons of conscience. Thoreau's concept is based on the belief that no law should command blind obedience, and that noncooperation with unjust laws is both morally correct and socially beneficial. The Liberator was a leading voice for abolitionism in the nineteenth century. Abolitionism called for the immediate emancipation of slaves, based...