Civilizing Thoreau : human ecology and the emerging social sciences in the major works

The Resource Civilizing Thoreau : human ecology and the emerging social sciences in the major works

Label

Civilizing Thoreau : human ecology and the emerging social sciences in the major works

Title remainder

human ecology and the emerging social sciences in the major works

Statement of responsibility

Richard J. Schneider

Language

eng

Summary

Recent book-length studies of Thoreau have focused either on his place in the history of the natural sciences or have applied political principles to his works. None, however, has fully addressed what ecocritic Rebecca Solnit calls "the Thoreau problem," the compartmentalizing of Thoreau's mind into either that of a hermit of nature or that of a champion of social reform. This book proposes an interdisciplinary solution to this problem through the connection between Thoreau's ecological study of nature and his intense interest in the emerging social sciences, especially the history of civilization and ethnology. The book first establishes Thoreau's "human ecology," the relation between the natural sciences and the social sciences in his thinking, exploring how his reading in contemporary books about the history of humanity and racial science shaped his thinking and connecting these emerging anthropological texts to his late nature writings. It then discusses these connections in his major works, including Walden and his "reform papers" such as "Civil Disobedience," the travel narrative A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, The Maine Woods, and Cape Cod. The concluding chapter focuses on Thoreau's attitude toward Manifest Destiny, arguing, against conventional views, that considering both his life and his writing, especially the essay "Walking," we must conclude that he both accepted and endorsed Manifest Destiny as an inevitable result of cultural succession. -- from back cover

Cataloging source

IDEBK

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

dictionaries
bibliography

Series statement

Mind and American literature

Context

Context of Civilizing Thoreau : human ecology and the emerging social sciences in the major works

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