This volume contains Henry David Thoreau's most popular and enduring works, Walden and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience. Walden (first published as Walden; or, Life in the Woods) is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, sati...re, and manual for self-reliance. Published in 1854, it details Thoreau's experiences over the course of two years in a cabin he built near Walden Pond, amidst woodland owned by his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson, near Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau did not intend to live as a hermit, for he received visitors regularly, and returned their visits. Rather, he hoped to isolate himself from society to gain a more objective understanding of it. Simple living and self-sufficiency were Thoreau's other goals, and the whole project was inspired by transcendentalist philosophy, a central theme of the American Romantic Period. Civil Disobedience is one of the most importance works of philosophy ever written, as relevant today as it has ever been, transcending space and time. This book is about man against the state, individuality, and Thoreau's philosophy of how one man can stand up to government and society, driven by his own convictions of right and wrong, as summarized by the timeless quote Any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one already. Thoreau's main point is that the best - and many times, the only - method for fighting injustice is through passive disobedience. By refusing to cooperate with the machinery of injustice, the individual can become the friction that stops the machine. Active resistance is bound for failure, as the machine (the State, society, etc.) is too formidable for the individual to fight. But, by refusing to cooperate, justice can be achieved and injustice toppled. If you are looking for a marvelous primer on individuality and the fight for justice, start with this book.
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| ISBN |
9781463570316 |
| Publisher |
Createspace |
| Format |
Trade Paperback/Paperback |
| Alternate Format(s) |
View All (14 other possible title(s) available)
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Full details for this title
| ISBN-13 |
9781463570316 |
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| Stock |
Available |
| Status |
Showing not yet available from supplier. Ships once released. |
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| Publisher |
Createspace |
| Imprint |
Createspace |
| Publication Country |
 United States |
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| Format |
Trade Paperback/Paperback
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| Author(s) |
By Thoreau, Henry David |
| Category |
Philosophy
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| Number of Pages |
224 pp |
| Dimensions |
Width: 152mm
Height: 229mm
Spine: 12mm |
| Dewey Code |
Not specified |
| Weight |
307g |
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Author's Bio
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) (properly pronounced Thaw-roe) was an American author, poet, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, philosopher, and leading transcendentalist. He is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state. Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions were his writings on natural history and philosophy, where he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern day environmentalism. His literary style interweaves close natural observation, personal experience, pointed rhetoric, symbolic meanings, and historical lore; while displaying a poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity, and Yankee love of practical detail. He was also deeply interested in the idea of survival in the face of hostile elements, historical change, and natural decay; at the same time he advocated abandoning waste and illusion in order to discover life's true essential needs. He was a lifelong abolitionist, delivering lectures that attacked the Fugitive Slave Law while praising the writings of Wendell Phillips and defending abolitionist John Brown. Thoreau's philosophy of civil disobedience influenced the political thoughts and actions of such later figures as Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Thoreau is sometimes cited as an individualist anarchist. Though Civil Disobedience seems to call for improving rather than abolishing government - I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government - the direction of this improvement points toward anarchism: 'That government is best which governs not at all;' and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Richard Drinnon partly blames Thoreau for the ambiguity, noting that Thoreau's sly satire, his liking for wide margins for his writing, and his fondness for paradox provided ammunition for widely divergent interpretations of 'Civil Disobedience.' He further points out that although Thoreau writes that he only wants at once a better government, that does not rule out the possibility that a little later he might favor no government.
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