num_pages: 336
description: A transcendentalist classic on social responsibility and a manifesto that inspired modern protest movements Critical of 19th-century America’s booming commercialism and industrialism, Henry David Thoreau moved to a small cabin in the woods of Concord, Massachusetts in 1845. Walden, the account of his stay near Walden Pond, conveys at once a naturalist’s wonder at the commonplace and a transcendentalist’s yearning for spiritual truth and self-reliance. But Thoreau’s embrace of solitude and simplicity did not entail a withdrawal from social and political matters. Civil Disobedience, also included in this volume, expresses his antislavery and antiwar sentiments, and has influenced resistance movements worldwide. Both give rewarding insight into a free-minded, principled and idiosyncratic life.
language: English
title: Walden and Civil Disobedience
titlecomplete: Walden and Civil Disobedience
genres: Classics, Nature, History, Philosophy, Literature, Memoir, Essays, American, Nonfiction, Politics
ratings_count: 37033
publisher: Penguin Books