Walden: 150th Anniversary Edition

Description

One of the most influential and compelling books in American literature, Walden is a vivid account of the years that Henry D. Thoreau spent alone in a secluded cabin at Walden Pond. This edition--introduced by noted American writer John Updike--celebrates the perennial importance of a classic work, originally published in 1854. Much of Walden's mat

Henry D. Thoreau (1817-62) was an American author, naturalist, poet, and philosopher. He wrote many essays and books, including Civil Disobedience, Walking, and The Maine Woods, among others. John Updike (1932-2009) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, short story writer, and poet.

"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 "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