A Plea for Captain John Brown

The short essay in which Thoreau argues that conscience comes before the law and explains why he went to jail rather than pay a tax. It later inspired Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

Henry David Thoreau

Thoreau's essay on the art of walking and the value of wildness, home of his famous line about wildness being the preservation of the world. A defense of nature against a world in a hurry.

Henry David Thoreau

A sharp lecture on how work, money and gossip eat up our lives, and why a life worth living needs principles of its own. Thoreau at his most direct.

Henry David Thoreau

The fiery speech Thoreau gave on July 4, 1854, weeks after Boston sent the fugitive Anthony Burns back to slavery. A short, angry text against laws that ask good people to obey injustice.

Henry David Thoreau

One of his last essays, a playful history of the apple tree that turns into praise of everything wild and overlooked. Thoreau at his warmest and funniest.

Henry David Thoreau