Texts by Henry David Thoreau

• Walden
• Civil Disobedience

Resources about Henry David Thoreau

1. Woodlief, Ann. “Henry David Thoreau.” __American Transcendentalism Web__. 6 June 2007. < http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/thoreau/ >.
This website is dedicated to providing history about American Transcendentalism. The website offers information about authors, texts, roots and influences, and ideas and thoughts of the period. This page focuses on Henry David Thoreau. “One might say he never stopped looking to nature for ultimate Truth.” Nature was a major component of transcendentalism. Thoreau completely immersed himself into nature for two years, building an isolated cabin to live in by Walden Pond. In addition to studying nature, Thoreau expanded his studies to the Frontier and Indians. Walden relied on intuition and insight. He believed that all had the right to fulfill their human potential, lecturing against slavery. Thoreau helped the Transcendentalists create a new American literature. He asked new questions, rethought life, and looked to nature to find greater meaning. This website did a good job explaining Thoreau’s relationship with nature and the influence it had on the Transcendental period. This is an educational website that provides a list of references as well as other texts, criticisms, links, and books that focus on Thoreau.

2. Woodlief, Ann. “Henry David Thoreau.” American Transcendentalism Web. 6 June 2007. < http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/thoreau/ >
American Transcendentalism Web offers useful information on all of the period’s writers, including Henry David Thoreau. It gives a historical biography of his childhood, claiming that he was a “complex man of many talents who worked hard to shape his craft and his life, seeing little difference between them.” His life, and literary work, seemed to be focused on finding God through nature, or in nature. The article writes that “one might say he never stopped looking into nature for ultimate truth.” It mentions that he was highly influenced by Emerson’s Nature; a book whose ideas he never fully stopped exploring. The website has a bibliography with links to its sources, and is not editable, making its reliability more certain.

3. “Henry David Thoreau.” Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. June 21, 2007. June 23, 2007. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau >
This article details the life of Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts in 1817. He attended Harvard college and graduated in 1837. After graduation Thoreau returned to Concord and met a man named Ralph Waldo Emerson. Thoreau and Emerson wrote together in Emerson’s quarterly called “The Dial”. On July 4, 1845 Thoreau built himself a small house on the edge of the woods near Walden Pond and began an experiment in simple living. He kept notes on his two years at Walden and wrote a book by the same name about his experience. Thoreau ran into legal trouble when the tax collector asked for back taxes and Thoreau refused to pay. Thoreau refused to pay because of his opposition to the current presidential administration and because of his opposition to the Mexican-American War. This action landed Thoreau in jail for one night until his Aunt paid his taxes with his protest. Thoreau died in 1862.
This website is helpful to a reader wanting to learn about Henry David Thoreau. The website outlines the important events in his life. More than outlining Thoreau’s life, the article gives a sense of Thoreau’s purpose in his writings. Thoreau’s writings were inspired by his life, and his life was one lived against the grain. Thoreau was an essential author to the transcendentalist movement. His writings have inspired others in subsequent history. He wrote with Emerson and others who were the leader of the transcendentalist movement. The website is credible because it matches up with other websites and information known about Thoreau.

4.Furtock, Rick A. "Henry David Thoreau." Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Jan.-Feb. 2008. 10 June 2008 <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/thoreau/>. Philosopher, Poet, Scientist. He was a man who was informed of knowledge at length. He questioned what he didn't know, to find out more. He spent two years of his life at Walden Pond in Massachsetts, on his good friend Ralph Waldo Emerson's land living the simple life as described in one of Emerson's essays. He wanted to test this theory. He grew beans for what little money he needed. In turn he ended up writing one of his greatest works about this experience, called Walden. Thoreau had many great comments on the world, he was indeed a smart man, and many of his quotes are still remembered today. This website does a thorough job of going through each portion relevent to Thoreau's life. It begins with his childhood, and moves on to his life and writings and how he was important to the transcendentalist movement. It talks about all the important viewpoints he had in his writings and philosophies and is a very useful tool in the research of Thoreau.

5. "Henry David Thoreau," Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. 2008. <http://search.eb.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/eb/article-9072230>
This web site is from the MCC library database. I believe this alone to prove that the site is credible and can trust the information it provides. If it wasn't a trust worthy web site, MCC wouldn't provide it to their students. He was born in Concord, MA in 1817. His first outdoor essay was "Natural History of Massachucetts," which was published in 1842. Walden was the peak of his life. He slowly became more of an activist.

6. “Henry David Thoreau.” Essays: English and American. The Harvard Classics. 1909-14. < http://www.bartleby.com/28/1011.html>

The point of this website is to give readers and in depth look at Transcendentalist author Henry David Thoreau. It provides the reader with a plethora of information regarding his life and one of his writings, “Walking”. Not only does it provide the full text, but the site includes information on various elements and themes present within it. This website did not really help me gain a further understanding of Thoreau, however it did present me with a new piece by Thoreau that I had not hear of. I would say this is a credible website, especially since it came from the Harvard Classics.

7. Pearson, John. "Henry David Thoreau." Henry David Thoreau (9781429813334) (Jan. 2005): 1-3. History Reference Center. EBSCO. 12 June 2009 <https://ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/login?url=https://search-ebscohost-com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=khh&AN=15316451&site=ehost-live>.
This is a biography written about the life of Henry David Thoreau. I found it on EBSCO host, which is a very reliable site. The site discusses his works, his life, Civil Disobedience, and his involvement in Transcendentalist literature. Overall it is a very good source for learning about this great author and his life. He wrote Civil Disobedience as a response to being thrown in jail for refusing to pay taxes. He encouraged peaceful rebellion against authority.

8. Marshall, Mason. "Freedom through critique: Thoreau's service to others." Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society: A Quarterly Journal in American Philosophy 41.2 (Spring 2005): 395(33). General OneFile. Gale. Mesa Community College. 1 July 2009
<http://find.galegroup.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/itx/start.do?prodId=ITOF>. The purpose of this article is to describe Thoreau as a person and his writing. It is explained that Thoreau uses his solitariness to write and communicate and with others. He is viewed as being antisocial and always keeping to himself. Thoreau was known to write about the meagerness of other people. It was his goal to find a better way of living for himself and others through his writing. The author also wanted to be as useful as he could to others. The article goes into detail about the authors writing and his thought behind it all. It also touches base on how Thoreau read the work of other authors and commentated on it for his own knowledge. It is important to know about this author because he was part of the Transcendentalism period. He wanted to help others with his writing and the Transcendentalism period was about intellectual, spiritual, and political experimentation. This article was helpful to better understand the author and his reasoning for writing. The article was credible because it was found on the MCC electronic resources website.