HenryDavidThoreau

=Henry David Thoreau=


 * Born in Concord Massachusetts, USA (1817-1862).
 * Was a complex man of many talents who worked hard to shape his craft and his life, seeing little difference between them. Thoreau knew himself to be a writer from the time he graduated from Harvard. He had begun keeping a journal in 1837 and had probably started writing poetry earlier than that; he also wrote and published essays and reviews. Thoreau remembered personally for his perennial humor, love of music, and easy way with children, He was a busy, committed member of his family and community: caring for loved ones, improving the family business. He contributed to "continuing education," as we call it today, by booking lecturers for the public Lyceum.
 * His famous experiment in living close to nature, and his equally famous night in jail to protest an inhuman institution and an unjust war, are distilled in his best known works, //walden// and //"civil disobedience."// Thoreau was an inventor and an engineer of sorts, was fascinated by technology, and the mid 19th century saw a series of inventions that would radically change the world.
 * Essays: **//Civil Disobedience//**- Thoreau's influential 1849 essay on following your own conscience. **//Life without Principle//**- In 1854 Thoreau railed against a culture whose primary focus is financial. **//Slavery in Massachusetts//**- Also in 1854, Thoreau attacked the support of slavery in his home state. **//A Pla for Captain John Brown//**- Brown tried to ignite a slave rebellion; Thoreau responded in 1859. **//Walking-//** In 1862, Thoreau described "wildness" as a treasure to be preserved, rather than a resource to be plundered.
 * Its latest publication, Mysticism in American Literature: Thoreau's Quest and Whitman's self was honored with three awards presented by the Northern California Publishers and authors assosiation at their annual book awards.
 * Thoreau and the //__trancendentalist movement__// in New England grew up together.Transcendentalism began as a radical religious movement, opposed to the rationalist, conservative institution that Unitarianism had become. Thoreau //Transcendental philosophy// and his scientific knowledge contributed to his love of nature.