Walden (Everyman) - Softcover

Thoreau, Henry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 046087635X ISBN 13: 9780460876353

Publisher: Phoenix, 1995

Synopsis

I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well Eschewing a conventional residence and lifestyle, Thoreau set up home in the woods on the shore of Walden Pond in Massachusetts, a mile from his nearest neighbor, and earned his living by labor of his own hands. Most people, he says are so occupied with the factitious care and toils of life that its finer fruits remain unplucked. So he went to Walden in an attempt to find, in the seemingly simple routines of life stripped to its essentials, the shape beneath what is apparently chaotic. Walden describes Thoreau's domestic economy, the wildlife, the few visitors to his remote wooden hut, and his reflections on the quality of human life in age of growing materialism and of prevailing work ethic. It has become poignant critique of the values of Thoreau's society which retains its relevance and extraordinary power today. A comprehensive paper edition, with an introduction and chronology of Thoreau's life and times

About this title

Review:

"Each [volume] is preceded by a substantive, lively and idiosyncratic essay. . . . Together, the essays are a mini-course in Thoreau and the trends he launched in American thought."--Nancy Szokan, "Washington Post Book World"

"Walden is a self-help book, perhaps the ultimate self-help book, urging us to show up for our own lives, to have the courage to find our own convictions and to try to live them out. . . . [Thoreau is] a writer of immense humanity, vitality and humor. . . . One hundred fifty years after its publication, Walden also remains a practical, usable manual on how to lead a good, and just life. . . . At its core, Walden is about the project of personal freedom, self-emancipation, which is where all pursuits of freedom must start."--Robert D. Richardson, "Smithsonian Magazine"

Book Description:

One of the most influential books in early American literature

About this edition

• Publisher: Phoenix
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 046087635X
• ISBN 13: 9780460876353
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320