In honor of the bicentennial of Henry David Thoreau’s birth, this edition of Walden features an introduction and annotations by renowned environmentalist Bill McKibben
“We need to understand that when Thoreau sat in the dooryard of his cabin ‘from sunrise till noon, rapt in a revery, in undisturbed solitude and stillness, while the birds sang around or flitted noiseless through the house,’ he was offering counsel and example exactly suited for our perilous moment in time.”
—Bill McKibben, from the introduction
First published in 1854, Henry David Thoreau’s groundbreaking book has influenced generations of readers and continues to inspire and inform anyone with an open mind, a love of nature, and a longing for simplicity and contemplation. Bill McKibben provides a newly revised introduction and helpful annotations that place Thoreau firmly in his role as cultural and spiritual seer. This beautiful edition of Walden, published in honor of the bicentennial of Thoreau’s birth, is more accessible and relevant than ever in an age of technological change and ecological crisis.
“Walden—republished by Beacon Press this year with an inspired introduction by Bill McKibben about Thoreau’s relevance to our own spiritually impoverished reality—is arguably the most important work of literary nonfiction in the American canon.”
—The New York Review of Books
“Bill McKibben gives us Thoreau’s Walden as the gospel of the present moment.”
—Robert D. Richardson Jr., author of Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind
“A stunning new edition [with an] illuminating introduction...McKibben’s voice melds with, but never overtakes, that of Thoreau.”
—The Oregonian
“McKibben provides the most Thoreauvian introduction to Thoreau’s classic that I have ever seen.”
—Lawrence Buell, author of Emerson and Writing for an Endangered World
Introduction by
Bill McKibben
WALDEN
Economy
Where I Lived, and What I Lived For
Reading
Sounds
Solitude
Visitors
The Bean-Field
The Village
The Ponds
Baker Farm
Higher Laws
Brute Neighbors
House-Warming
Former Inhabitants; and Winter Visitors
Winter Animals
The Pond in Winter
Spring
Conclusion