Walden, Civil Disobedience, and Other Writings

Walden, written by Henry David Thoreau, was first published in 1854. Walden details Thoreau's experiences over the course of two years, two months, and two days in a cabin he built near Walden Pond, amidst nature & ecology, lakes & ponds, and woodland owned by his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson, near Concord, Massachusetts. The book compresses the time into a single calendar year and uses passages of four seasons to symbolize human development. Henry David Thoreau reflects upon simple living in natual surroundings. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and to some degree, a manual for self reliance. Civil Disobedience also written by Henry David Thoreau is an essay that was first published in 1849. While Henry David Thoreau was considered a transcendentalist, his work of writings encompasses social sciences, political science, civil rights, and humanities. In Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau argues that individuals should not permit governments to overrule their consciences, and that they have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice. Henry David Thoreau's motivation to pen the Civil Disobedience essay was in part due to his disgust with slavery and the Mexican-American War. As noted, Civil Disobedience is studied in social sciences, political science, civil rights, and humanities, yet while only an essay, Civil Disobedience is often textbook required reading. In addition to Walden and Civil Disobedience, this anthology volume also contains four additional popular essays by Henry David Thoreau which are: Life Without Principle, Slavery In Massachusetts, A Plea for Captain John Brown, and Walking.