Complex sentence: From his youth onwards, Perry had a deep interest in Platonism and Vedanta and, in the footsteps of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Thoreau, was a "Boston brahmin" in the middle of the Twentieth century.
Split into simpler sentences: From his youth onwards, Perry had a deep interest in Platonism and Vedanta. In the footsteps of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Thoreau, was a "Boston brahmin" in the middle of the Twentieth century.