Henry David Thoreau as an American essayist, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, yogi, and historian. A leading transcendentalist, Thoreau is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay ''Civil Disobedience'' (originally published as ''Resistance to Civil Government''), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state.
