19th-century america american american-classics american-lit american-literature autobiography biography classic classic-literature classics ecology environment essay essays fiction henry-david-thoreau history inspiration life literature massachusetts memoir natural-history naturalism nature nature-writing new-england nineteenth-century non-fiction nonfiction philosophy poetry politics simplicity social-commentary solitude spirituality thoreau transcendentalism united-states us usa walden wilderness

One of the great books of American letters and a masterpiece of reflective philosophizing. Accounts of Thoreau's daily life on the shores of Walden Pond outside Concord, Massachusetts, are interwoven with musings on the virtues of self-reliance and individual freedom, on society, government, and other topics. Introductory note. 1 line illustration. 1 map.