Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) was an American writer and philosopher of nature. He studied at Harvard University from 1833 to 1837 and worked, among other occupations, as a teacher; together with his brother, he also founded a private school. Thoreau was a friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson and associated with the New England Transcendentalists. Nature was a central subject of his life and work. From 1845 to 1847, he lived in a self-built cabin near Walden Pond in Concord. He described the experience in his best-known book, “Walden; or, Life in the Woods” (1854). Other notable writings include the essay “Civil Disobedience” and “Life Without Principle.” Thoreau also spoke publicly against slavery. He died of tuberculosis in 1862 in his native Concord.