The Essays of Henry D. Thoreau
After 150 years, Thoreau's elegant and sometimes eccentric writings continue to inspire environmentalists and political activists. According to Hyde (creative writing, Kenyon Coll.), most collections of Thoreau's prose tend to segregate his nature writings ("Walking") from his more political writings ("Civil Disobedience"). In this collection, Hyde arranges the essays in the chronological order in which Thoreau wrote them to demonstrate that Thoreau's political concerns were never far below the surface in his nature writings and that his concern with nature animated his political writings. In addition, Hyde provides extensive annotations to the essays, clarifying unfamiliar names and translating the Greek and Latin phrases that Thoreau was so fond of using. Hyde's edition contains all of Thoreau's well-known essays, e.g., "Walking," "Natural History of Massachusetts," and "A Plea for Captain John Brown," as well as some that are not as well known, e.g., "Autumnal Tints." Since all of these essays can be found in other collections, and since Hyde's annotations and arrangement are the only distinguishing features of this volume, only large public libraries and academic libraries need to buy it. Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Lancaster, PACopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.