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Civil Disobedience Henry David Thoreau
28 pages, $2.00 (free with the purchase of any other book). Henry David Thoreau - July 12, 1817, Concord, Mass. - May 6, 1862, Concord, Mass. American essayist, poet and practical philosopher, renowned for having lived the doctrines of Transcendentalism as recorded in his masterwork, "Walden" (1814), and for having been a vigorous advocate of civil liberties, especially anti-slavery, as evidenced in this essay. Sheer chance made his entrance to writing easier, for he came under the benign influence of the essayist and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, who had settled in Concord during Thoreau's sophomore year at Harvard. By the autumn of 1837, they were becoming friends. Emerson sensed in Thoreau a true disciple--that is, one with so much Emersonian self-reliance that he would still be his own man. Thoreau saw in Emerson a guide, a father, and a friend. With his magnetism Emerson attracted others to Concord. Out of their heady speculations and affirmatives came New England Transcendentalism. In retrospect it was one of the most significant literary movements of 19th-century America, with at least two authors of world stature, Thoreau and Emerson, to its credit. Essentially it combined romanticism with reform. It celebrated the individual rather than the masses, emotion rather than reason, nature rather than man. It conceded that there were two ways of knowing, through the senses and through intuition, but asserted that intuition transcended tuition. Similarly, it conceded that matter and spirit both existed. It asserted, however, that the reality of spirit transcended the reality of matter. It strove for reform yet insisted that reform begin with the individual, not the group or organization. In Emerson's company Thoreau's hope of becoming a poet looked not only proper but feasible. Late in 1837, at Emerson's suggestion, he began keeping a journal that covered thousands of pages before he scrawled the final entry two months before his death. He soon polished some of his old college essays and composed new and better ones as well. He wrote some poems--a good many, in fact--for several years. Captained by Emerson, the Transcendentalists started a magazine, "The Dial", the inaugural issue, dated July 1840, carried Thoreau's poem "Sympathy" and his scrap of essay on the Roman poet Aulus Persius Flaccus. The Dial published more of Thoreau's poems and then, in July 1842, the first of his outdoor essays, "Natural History of Massachusetts." Though disguised as a book review, it showed that a nature writer of distinction was in the making. Then followed more lyrics, and fine ones, such as "To the Maiden in the East." There followed another nature essay, remarkably felicitous, "A Winter Walk." The Dial died with the issue of April 1844. Before it expired, however, it let Thoreau publish a richer variety of writing than any other magazine ever would. Thoreau's essay "Civil Disobedience" later became the inspiration for the non-violent movements carried out by Gandhi and Martin Luther King. TO ORDER: Or, if you prefer, send a check or money order in U.S. currency to the order of SouthernCross Review: SouthernCross Review If you live in Argentina, Argentine pesos to: SouthernCross Review - F.Smith In this case (a check) as soon as we receive notification from you via e-mail when payment will be sent, the e-book will be forwarded to you via e-mail. (In You We Trust.) Click here to send us your order. In the subject box write: "e-book", and in the body "Thoreau. Check will be sent (date)". [email protected] Remember, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader. (Click for free download) NOTE: With each order of one book, a free bonus book ("Civil Disobedience" or "The Sorrows of Young Werther") will be sent as well - if you want it. Please advise in your order message. If all the books are ordered, a 20% discount will apply, as well as the two bonus books. Other e-books Basic Issues of the Social Question - Rudolf Steiner Favela Children - a Brazilian Diary - Ute Craemer Putting Soul into Science - Michael Friedjung The Sorrows of Young Werther - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe The Girl in the Floppy Hat and other stories - Frank Thomas Smith Knock on Wood and other stories - Frank Thomas Smith The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Volume 1 - Arthur Conan Doyle The Adventures of sherlock Holmes - Volume 2 - Arthur Conan Doyle |