Historical documents. What clues can you gather about Henry David Thoreau, the time, place, players, and culture?
Walden
Thoreau's classic about life on the Pond.
"Civil Disobedience"
The essay Thoreau wrote about his experience in jail for refusing to pay his taxes.
The Maine Woods
Thoreau's 1864 book on his sojourns in, um, the Maine woods.
"Slavery in Massachusetts"
Thoreau's abolitionist essay.
Thoreau
Emerson's 1862 essay in The Atlantic eulogizing his late friend.
Ellery Channing on Thoreau
The author's contemporary remembers his friend.
Updike on Thoreau
An essay by writer John Updike on Thoreau and his Walden.
Henry Thoreau: Transcendental Economist
An excerpt from a book by Vernon L. Parrington that won the 1928 Pulitzer Prize.
Ten Volumes of Thoreau
An 1891 essay by Thoreau-hater Joshua Caldwell.
19th Century Outsider
A 1958 essay in Time Magazine about Thoreau.