Walking with Thoreau: A Literary Guide to the New England Mountains [Paperback]

William Howarth (Author, Commentary)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 16, 2001

A Literary Guide to the Mountains of New England

Commentary by William Howarth

Walking with Thoreau features Henry David Thoreau's writings on nine New England mountains. William Howarth's illuminating commentary, printed alongside Thoreau's text, allows the presentday hiker to retrace Thoreau's footsteps up some of New England's most popular mountain destinations.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, MA in 1817, and is best know for his influential work, Walden, which was published by Ticknor & Fields in 1854.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press; 1st Beacon Press ed edition (May 16, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807085553
• ISBN-13: 978-0807085554
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,405,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Walking with Thoreau, May 18, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Walking with Thoreau: A Literary Guide to the New England Mountains (Paperback)

A thoughtful book. No self-respecting nature lover should be unfamiliar with these passages from Thoreau. Read them, and then do what Thoreau would suggest: get off your chair, put on your boots, throw a sandwich in your backpack, and get out there and see the real Greylock, Katahdin, and Mt. Washington.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb guide to little-known Thoreau writings, May 18, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Walking with Thoreau: A Literary Guide to the New England Mountains (Paperback)

The previous commentator seems to have a personal vendetta going with the editor of this text and its reviewers. He should take his psycho-drama elsewhere and stop trashing a book that so many others have found to be excellent. (As its sales rise, he seems to froth more at the mouth.)

Most erroneous is his claim that "Walking with Thoreau" is a reprint. Apparently he has not actually read and compared the two editions. The later one is vastly revised, from a new introduction to fresh, updated notes throughout, reporting on changes in local details and new discoveries in Thoreau scholarship. The bibliography is much longer and arranged into topics, citing the latest publications on a wide range of natural history subjects. Beacon Press dropped the early illustrations but kept the lovely maps and added much more text, setting it in a compact, readable format. To my scholarly eyes, all those changes add up to a new, revised edition, and NOT a reprint.

If you love Thoreau, take this book along on your next trip to the New England mountains. It's a superb guide to some little-known writings by one of America's great originals, whose call for a simple and thoughtful life has never been more timely. My students at Harvard have taken to giving it as a gift to their families!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A marvelous book, May 18, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Walking with Thoreau: A Literary Guide to the New England Mountains (Paperback)

Howarth is a very senior figure in the turbulent, often messy field of Thoreauvian studies, and "Walking With Thoreau" is a welcome follow-up to his excellent "The Book of Concord: Thoreau and His Journal." Howarth's scholarship is impeccable, making "Walking With Thoreau" literary commentary of a very high order, but it's also a great read for anyone who admires (or is baffled by) this American original. All who want to follow Thoreau's mountain treks for real should definitely slip this handsome edition in their day-packs, but those who enjoy both philosophy and mountaineering armchair-style will also enjoy Thoreau's accounts of his (often quite dangerous and daring) expeditions to ten New England heights, among them Katahdin and Tuckerman Ravine. Thoreau's mountain narratives are among his lesser-known but most important and heartfelt works; for all, Howarth supplies historical and critical context with clarity, wit and not a little affection.