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Emerson Among the Eccentrics: A Group Portrait
Emerson Among the Eccentrics A Group Portrait Author:Carlos Baker * Chosen by the editors of The New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of 1996. Ralph Waldo Emerson's circle included many of the most brilliant and original minds of his day: Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Amos Bronson Alcott, and Margaret Fuller. Together this eccentric group helped establish Concord, Massachusetts, as a mecca... more » for progressive thinking, including women's rights and religious tolerance. Carlos Baker's indefatigable research included reviewing the journals and correspondence of all the central characters to reconstruct, minutely, entire days. The result is a vivid and textured mosaic not just of the group's interactions but of their daily lives--what they ate, wore, discussed, read, and cared about. All of this brings Emerson vividly to life in his quotidian relationships--as young man and old; father, husband, and son; preacher, lecturer and editor; farmer, guest and friend. It is by far the most intimate portrait we have of the Sage of Concord and his remarkable entourage.« less