Description
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThoreau and the Sociological Imagination presents the trans-disciplinary breadth of Henry David Thoreau's work, explores the relation between self and society in constructing the common good, and highlights the interplay between humans and the natural environment. In this thought-provoking account, Dr. Bingham, illustrates Thoreau's particularly prescient outlook on social evolution. -- Michele Dillon, University of New Hampshire; coauthor of American Catholics in Transition
In retrospect, it is remarkable that this volume, or one like it, was not published some time ago. Looking at Thoreau as a sociological thinker makes perfect sense. . . . This is a book that should provoke self-reflection among sociologists as well as more general readers. Highly recommended. * CHOICE, December 2009 *
With C. Wright Mills and Peter Berger by his side, Bingham argues for a reconstruction of the socio-theoretical canon so as to include the posture and insights of the great humanist Henry David Thoreau. This formidable task is deftly discharged, and in Thoreau and the Sociological Imagination Bingham provides the basis for considerable discussion and debate. -- Braulio Muñoz, Swarthmore College, and author of The Peruvian Notebooks and Tensions in Social Theory
Table of Contents1 Preface 2 Chronology 3 Chapter One: Disciplinary Disobedience 4 Chapter Two: The Seeds and Fruit of Thoreavian Though 5 Chapter Three: Social Structure and the American Individual 6 Chapter Four: "Progress," Social Development and Social Change 7 Chapter Five: Thoreau's Social Inquiry 8 Chapter Six: Thoreau as a Model for "Reimagining" Sociology 9 References
