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Walden and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience

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Walden and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience

By: Henry David Thoreau
Narrated by: Robin Field
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About this listen

 In the early spring of 1845, Henry David Thoreau built and lived in a cabin near the shore of Walden Pond in rural Massachusetts. For the next two years, he enacted his own Transcendentalist experiment, living a simple life based on self-reliance, individualism, and harmony with nature. The journal he kept at that time evolved into his masterwork, Walden, an eloquent expression of a uniquely American philosophy.

During the same period, Thoreau endured a one-day imprisonment for his refusal to pay a poll tax, an act of protest against the government for supporting the Mexican War, to which he was morally opposed. In his essay, "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience," Thoreau defends the principles of such nonviolent protest, setting an example that has influenced such figures as Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., and endures to this day.

Public Domain (P)1997 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Essays Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science United States World Literature Nonfiction

Critic Reviews

"Walden is a major philosophical statement on the American character....as readable and perhaps even more timely than when it was written." ( Masterpieces of World Literature)
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What did you like most about Walden and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience?

Thoreau's eloquence and style keeps you engaged throughout the majority of the book. The other times, you are a bit confused.

Which character – as performed by Robin Field – was your favourite?

The narrator was okay. He had an accent that is reminiscent of the days of Thoreau himself, and thus adds character to the first person account.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There are a multitude of quotes one might pull out of this book. It is just rife with one-liners.

Great book, Thoreau is such an engaging writer

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