The American Scholar cover art

The American Scholar

Preview
This Season's Biggest Deal

$0.99/mo for 3 months + $20 Audible bonus voucher

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Get this deal
Offer ends on 28 December, 2026.
More purchase options

The American Scholar

By: Ralph Waldo Emerson
Narrated by: Phil Paonessa
Get this deal

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 28 December, 2026. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $9.90

Buy Now for $9.90

This Season's Biggest Deal | $0.99/mo for 3 months + $20 Audible bonus

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo. after 3 months - terms apply.
Summary

The American Scholar was a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1837 to the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard College.

Emerson argues that American culture, still heavily influenced by Europe, could build a new, distinctly American cultural identity. Emerson uses Transcendentalist and Romantic points of view to explain a true American scholar's relationship to nature.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. declared this speech to be America's "Intellectual Declaration of Independence". Building on the growing attention he was receiving from the essay Nature, this speech solidified Emerson's popularity and weight in America.

Public Domain (P)2018 Dreamscape Media, LLC
Classics Philosophy
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.