The Essays of Henry D. Thoreau

"Hyde's volume is a well-chosen, handsome collection of essays with a splendid introduction. Everyone will want to use it—it's a real contribution."—Robert D. Richardson, author of Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind

"This thoughtfully-edited gathering of Thoreau's essays will surely be of great interest both to Thoreauvians and to readers approaching his work for the first time."—Lawrence Buell, Harvard University, author of The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing, and the Formation of American Culture

"[This book is] much enhanced by Hyde's intelligent and entertaining introduction. He has collected thirteen of Thoreau's essays but has chosen to depart from the customary practice of separating 'nature' essays from 'political' essays, instead arranging them in the order of their composition. In so doing, Hyde reminds us that the two worlds were indivisible even in the mind of Thoreau. To separate what we call 'human nature' from what we call 'the natural world' has always been the work of sophistry, never a reflection of the truth."—The Newark Star Ledger

"The first fully annotated edition of Thoreau's major essays, here presented in the order Thoreau wrote them: 'Natural History of Massachusetts,' 'A Winter Walk,' 'Paradise (To Be) Regained,' 'Ktaadn,' 'Civil Disobedience,' 'Walking,' 'Slavery in Massachusetts,' 'Life without Principle,' 'Autumnal Tints,' 'The Succession of Forest Trees,' 'A Plea for Captain John Brown,' 'The Last Days of John Brown,' and 'Wild Apples.' Includes 'A Note on the Selection' of the essays, a bibliography, thirteen illustrations, a map to accompany 'Ktaadn,' and a detailed index. After the excellent, often fascinating annotations, which are presented in the back of the volume (the essays appear in clear-text form), the most valuable component of the volume is Hyde's insightful forty-three-page introduction, titled 'Prophetic Excursions.' By far the most useful, most informative single collection of Thoreau's short prose we have had."—Bradley Dean, The Thoreau Society Bulletin