Henry David Thoreau’s countercultural voice was not popular in his lifetime, and his ideas remain provocative today. Walden anticipated today’s interest in simplicity and sustainability, and what he wrote about possessions and technology is fresh and powerful. He saw nature as teacher and companion, and his in wildness is the preservation of the world insight could be the motto of contemporary green movements. His essay On the Duty of Civil Disobedience inspired Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., and his journals have aided contemporary climate scientists studying alterations near Thoreau’s Massachusetts home. At turns passionate, funny, and profound, this collection serves as a compelling introduction – or vivid reminder – of why Thoreau is one of America’s iconoclastic greats.