Columbia Encyclopedia World Factbook American Heritage Coll. Stevenson found the book dull. Still, it has an interest of its own for the light it sheds on Thoreau's peculiar temperament, and particularly on his robust Americanism, a sentiment based on traditional dislike of Britain and on contempt for monarchy as an effete institution.
Patriotism is a curious passion.
It does not seem possible to love one's own country except by hating some other country. His preference of his country and condition was genuine, and his aversation from English and European manners and tastes almost reached contempt. With no great love for the institutions of his own land, he showed his instinctive preference for them during his one brief sojourn under an alien flag. His attitude throughout is one of consistent patronage to all he sees and hears. The red-coats in the citadel at Quebec have the manhood drilled out of them.