Simplify, Simplify: And Other Quotations from Henry David Thoreau

by Kevin Van Anglen (Editor)

Overview

Sampling from Walden, "Civil Disobedience," The Maine Woods, and Henry David Thoreau's abolitionist and nature writings, letters, and other texts, Kevin P. Van Anglen distills the intellectual's immense, creative, clever, and surprisingly progressive thought into 750 quotations, offering a concise and straightforward introduction to his profound philosophy. Addressing subjects ranging from English literature, the act of reading, and the art of love to independence, ecology, and democratic government, Thoreau was a true original writing at a time of burgeoning American exceptionalism, and his incomparable insight continues to thrill readers from all generations and backgrounds.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231103886
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	10/03/1996
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.81(w) x 8.76(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

K. P. Van Anglen is the author of The New England Milton: Literary Reception and Cultural Authority in the Early Republic and an editor of The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau. He is also the coeditor of Environment: An Interdisciplinary Anthology. He currently teaches English and American literature at Boston University and serves as an editor of the journal Religion and the Arts.

Editorial Reviews

A brilliant new sampling of Thoreau's words... this collection stands as a document unto itself.... There is little that is routine or simplistic about this lovingly constructed—not to mention remarkably attractive—text. Van Anglen recognizes the breadth of intellect that underpinned the writings and utterances of Thoreau.

The Capital Times

As Kevin P. Van Anglen shows, Henry David Thoreau's passionate commitment to truth and to the integrity of the self has made his influence endure; reformers and writers like Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rachel Carson all were inspired by the example of his person, his beliefs, and his writings.

Harvard Review

In excerpts ranging from short sentences to long paragraphs, distills the essence of Thoreau's thinking on such topics as ambition, America, birds, the inhabitants of Cape Cod, Christianity, menus, Native Americans, self-knowledge, war, and transcendentalism. Annotated. No index. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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