Search -
Henry David Thoreau on the Power of Simplicity: The Seer of Walden Weighs In on Work, Money, Success--and the Joy of Living with Less
Henry David Thoreau on the Power of Simplicity The Seer of Walden Weighs In on Work Money Success--and the Joy of Living with Less Author:Henry David Thoreau In a defiant journal entry for November 1858, Henry Thoreau of Concord, Massachusetts blasted both church and state, accusing what he called sects and parties of wishing to suppress independent thought. He wrote: If there were any magnanimity in us, any grandeur of soul, he wrote, ...how often we might encourage and provoke one another by a ... more »free expression! I will not consent to walk with my mouth muzzled.... So it was that Henry David Thoreau, icon of individualism and master of impolitic remarks, lived his life: saying what he thought, acting on principle, writing to provoke and for the sheer joy of it (his journal alone ran a million words). Thoreau spoke in support of racial equality and civil rights with impassioned speeches on the abolitionist John Brown; fought injustice as a conductor on the Underground Railroad for fugitive slaves; and in protest against the Mexican War, refused to pay his poll tax. His involvement was an ongoing patriot act in defense of First Amendment freedoms. But although the Seer of Walden was a political animal at heart, he was no candidate for office: his activist philosophy called for civil disobedience, passive resistance and principled engagement beyond the polls and election campaigns. Liberals and conservatives alike will find food for thought in this relevant, free-press friendly selection of the dissident author s outspoken commentary on everything from that sine qua non of democracy, freedom of speech, to the insatiable appetite for gossip he called the broad, flapping American ear. Included are timely critiques of military adventurism, government incompetence and religious bigotry, tempered by personal expressions of a uniquely open and optimistic spiritual vision.« less