{"product_id":"lessons-from-walden-9780268107338","title":"Lessons from Walden","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThroughout this original and passionate book, Bob Pepperman Taylor presents a wide-ranging inquiry into the nature and implications of Henry David Thoreau's thought in \u003ci\u003eWalden \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eCivil Disobedience\u003c\/i\u003e. Taylor pursues this inquiry in three chapters, each focusing on a single theme: chapter 1 examines simplicity and the ethics of voluntary poverty, chapter 2 looks at civil disobedience and the role of conscience in democratic politics, and chapter 3 concentrates on what nature means to us today and whether we can truly learn from nature. Taylor considers Thoreau's philosophy, and the philosophical problems he raises, from the perspective of a wide range of thinkers and commentators drawn from history, philosophy, the social sciences, and popular media, breathing new life into Walden and asking how it is alive for us today.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn\u003ci\u003e Lessons from\u003c\/i\u003e Walden, Taylor allows all sides to have their say, even as he persistently steers the discussion back to a nuanced reading o\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Bob Taylor’s \u003ci\u003eLessons from \u003c\/i\u003eWalden brings Thoreau’s classic text to bear on the present moment, into Trump’s America, into an age of environmental degradation, into a time of cultural self-absorption, instrumental rationality, and neoliberal indifference to what is local, communal, and particular.” —Shannon Mariotti, author of\u003ci\u003e Thoreau’s Democratic Withdrawal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eLessons from\u003c\/i\u003e Walden allows Thoreau to enter today’s conversation in a way that seldom happens: Bob Taylor's measured and fair-minded mediation allows the fullness of Thoreau’s stance to appear to the reader with all his contradictions intact. The result is a true conversation in which Thoreau becomes the springboard to further deliberation. Time and again, Taylor returns to Thoreau as to a moral lodestone, bringing the discussion to a reasoned conclusion that still leaves one thinking.” —Laura Dassow Walls, author of \u003ci\u003eHenry David Thoreau: A Life\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A reading of Thoreau for the age of Trump—and really for any moment when our courage as individuals and as a polity seems to be flagging. This is a book that will make you think, and perhaps even act!” —Bill McKibben, author of \u003ci\u003eThe End of Nature\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eFalter\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eLessons from\u003c\/i\u003e Walden delivers exactly what its title promises—an educational guide for an individual life committed to simplicity, moral responsibility, and ethical integrity. Like Thoreau, Taylor's goal is to wake us up.” —Sandra Harbert Petrulionis, author of \u003ci\u003eThoreau in His Own Time\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eLessons from\u003c\/i\u003e Walden is a welcome tonic in this moment of political and environmental crisis. Bob Pepperman Taylor’s always-trenchant and insightful analysis reveals Thoreau’s enduring relevance for modern democracies. His lessons are both important and timely.” —Kimberly Smith, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Conservation Constitution\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"What would Thoreau say about the latest rise of populism and threats to the environment? 'One of the points I make is that \u003ci\u003eWalden\u003c\/i\u003e doesn’t provide prescriptions for political crisis,' Taylor said. 'Thoreau's . . . contribution helps us think beyond the immediate crisis, to how we can each live as more responsible citizens.” —\u003ci\u003eEurekAlert.org\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"The year of a presidential election seems like a particularly good time to revisit the qualities necessary for American self-governance. Bob Pepperman Taylor’s book, \u003ci\u003eLessons from\u003c\/i\u003e Walden: \u003ci\u003eThoreau and the Crisis of American Democracy\u003c\/i\u003e attempts to do just that. Reaching back to Jacksonian democracy, Taylor uses Henry David Thoreau as a tour guide to reveal the threats and temptations in the contemporary American landscape.\" —\u003ci\u003eLaw and Liberty\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Lessons from \u003c\/i\u003eWalden [is] an extraordinary book. . . . It offers a compelling, well-thought out argument about the relevance of Thoreau in our political time.” —\u003ci\u003ePerspectives on Politics\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Notre Dame Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49400754897239,"sku":"9780268107338","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780268107338.jpg?v=1730471481","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/lessons-from-walden-9780268107338","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}