The Adventures of Henry Thoreau: A Young Man's Unlikely Path to Walden Pond Hardcover Author: Visit Amazon's Michael Sims Page | Language: English | ISBN:
1620401959 | Format: PDF, EPUB
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Review
"[A] surpassingly vivid and vital chronicle of Thoreau’s formative years. As Sims portrays a solemn boy nicknamed "the Judge," we gain fresh understanding of Thoreau’s choices and convictions on his way to becoming a seminal environmentalist and civil-disobedience guru." –Booklist"An amiable and fresh take on the legendary sage of Walden Pond…an animated portrait. Sims has once again proven himself to be a distinctive writer on the subjects of human nature and humans in nature." –Bookpage"An affectionate and lively recreation of the world that surrounded [Thoreau]." –Christian Science Monitor, picked as one of the 10 Best Books of February"I confess I picked up this biography not because of a burning interest in Thoreau . . . but because I loved Michael Sims' previous book about E. B. White and the writing of Charlotte's Web. Sims made White's youthful world of 1920s New York come alive and he does the same thing here for Thoreau's Concord. . . . The Adventures of Henry Thoreau is a rich, entertaining testament to the triumph of a young man who never comfortably fit in, but who made a place for himself, nonetheless." –Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air"A well-researched and richly detailed portrait… The Henry David Thoreau portrayed here is no ‘marble bust of an icon.’ He's restless, prickly and possessed of a relentless intellectual curiosity--a complex, fully realized human being. With this picture in mind, anyone who admires Thoreau's life and work will view him with fresh eyes." –Shelf Awareness"Sims creates a sensuous natural environment in which to appreciate his subject." –Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
Michael Sims is the author of the acclaimed The Story of Charlotte's Web, Apollo's Fire: A Day on Earth in Nature and Imagination, Adam's Navel: A Natural and Cultural History of the Human Form, and editor of Dracula's Guest: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories and The Dead Witness: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Detective Stories. He lives in western Pennsylvania.
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- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (February 18, 2014)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1620401959
- ISBN-13: 978-1620401958
- Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
From this refreshing re-examination of a national icon, we learn that Henry David Thoreau was a non-conformist, a bit "on the spectrum" as we might deduce through today's lens, but not quite the utter hermit some have supposed him to be. The cabin at Walden Pond was arrived at by logical steps, and was neither the beginning nor the end of a short but memorable life. Author Michael Sims describes Thoreau's youthful progression in vivid, emotionally evocative language.
Thoreau was a child obsessed with science and nature. Surrounded by trees and streams, his people were not farmers. His mother was an early, self-styled abolitionist, and his father was a pencil manufacturer. They were remarkably tolerant of their son's quirks; Thoreau was a demandingly curious, rough cut, woods wanderer who managed to scrape into Harvard on the bottom rung. These days, his trajectory would be considered pretty typical: a rebel without a cause for much of his youth, he dropped out of his first profession --- teaching --- because he did not believe in corporal punishment, at that time considered necessary to learning.
A born naturalist, Thoreau roved the local landscape, seemingly measuring each plot for possible occupation. He once scandalized the region on one of his romps, by starting a fire that went out of control and burned a wide swath, calling forth the fire brigade and understandably inciting local wrath. Though he pretended to ignore the general outrage, Sims records that" he felt an inconsolable grief over the loss of the woods." He also suffered a deep personal loss when his more sociable older brother, John, whom he idolized, died of tetanus: "Henry was holding John in his arms when he gasped his last choking breath.
... with the help of terrific insights, like the ones Michael Sims offers us here. There's nothing like a new Thoreau biography to re-introduce our favorite author-naturalist to another population. And veteran Thoreauvians are entertained as well, because it gives them new material to chew on and to debate.
Yes, quite a few Thoreau biographies already exist. In the beginning they were written by Henry's friends, as a way of honoring and remembering him. Then a few fans at the turn of the last century (and on both sides of the Atlantic) took on the task of adding to and refining the information, because they could still ask crucial questions of those few remaining people of Concord who had once known Henry. During the WWII years, the literary scholars joined the crowd; and they set the standard for many decades. Today we hear a diversity of voices, from a variety of sources -- many of them, from those folks who encountered Thoreau in high school or in college in the 1960s-1970s-1980s. Like Michael Sims. (Like me.)
We all have our own personal versions of Henry. For Sims, he's forever young and vital. The focus here is on the first 30 years of Henry's life: up until the time that he leaves Walden Pond in 1847. He paints the picture of a highly sensitive man who is curious about the behaviors of both Nature and mankind. Someone who wants to be at least a little successful at being a writer, but who encounters difficulties in getting published. Included are naturally the usual stories and the near-myths of Henry's life -- abruptly resigning after teaching only two weeks at a public school; becoming devastated by his brother John's death; accidentally setting the woods on fire; moving to Walden Pond; spending a night in jail for non-payment of the poll tax, etc. etc.
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