Henry David Thoreau: Walden, The Maine Woods, Collected Essays and Poems

Book excerpt: Here, in one volume for the first time, are the most important works of Henry David Thoreau, America's greatest nature writer and a political thinker of worldwide influence. A landmark in American literature, Walden is at once a personal declaration of independence, a social experiment, a manual of self-reliance, and a masterpiece of style. The Maine Woods combines close observation of the unexplored Maine wilderness with a far-sighted plea for conservation. Including "Civil Disobedience," "Walking," and "Life Without Principle," the 27 essays gathered here reflect Thoreau's speculative and probing cast of mind. In his poems, presented here in versions from his journals and manuscripts, Thoreau gave voice to his private sentiments and spiritual aspirations in the plain style of New England speech.