He is best remembered for his 1854 book Walden and his 1849 essay “ Civil Disobedience,” a call to action that inspired both Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. Some young readers point out his hypocrisy-while living on Walden Pond his mother still made his dinner and washed his clothes-and few things appall and excite the young as much as catching their elders in any form of hypocrisy.īut Thoreau can still teach us much about ourselves. He can be wordy and bombastic, reminiscent of the radio disc jockey Chris on the 1990s television series Northern Exposure. Other young readers find Thoreau pompous, way too much over the top. Some who discover Thoreau in their youth, like this reviewer, are left amazed every time they pick up one of his works. This is especially true of young adult readers. Thoreau will make your mind soar or leave you cold. Readers who have opinions about Thoreau tend to have strong opinions. In his 1851 essay “ Walking,” Thoreau tells readers, “We should go forth on the shortest walk, perchance, in the spirit of undying adventure.” And there is probably no American writer who understood this aspect of human nature better than Henry David Thoreau. We spawned in the oceans and learned to run on the savannas. We are not meant to sit still for too long.
The Covid-19 shutdowns and quarantines have reminded us of something important about ourselves. Thoreau statue and replica cabin, Walden Pond, Concord, MAīy Jim Baggett | Archives Department, Central Library
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