America's bachelor uncle
Subtitle: Thoreau and the American polity
By: Bob Pepperman Taylor.
Series: American political thought
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Lawrence
Language: eng
Number of pages: 180
Subjects: Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862 -- Political and social views.; Politics and literature -- United States -- History -- 19th century.; National characteristics, American, in literature.
Description: Emphatically revisionist, this book reveals a Thoreau most people never knew existed. Contrary to conventional views, Bob Pepperman Taylor argues that Thoreau was one of America's most powerful and least understood political thinkers, a man who promoted community and democratic values while being ever vigilant against the evils of excessive or illegitimate authority.

Still widely perceived as a remarkable nature writer but simplistic philosopher with no real understanding of human society, Thoreau is resurrected here as a profound social critic with more on his mind than utopian daydreams. Rather than the aloof and private individualist spurned by conservatives and championed by radicals and environmentalists, Taylor portrays Thoreau as a genuinely engaged political theorist concerned with the moral foundations of public life.

Like a solicitous "bachelor uncle" (an allusion to his journals), Thoreau persistently prodded his fellow citizens to remember that they were responsible for independently evaluating the behavior of their government and political community.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 171-175) and index.