Summary: America’s “environmental prophet,” Henry David Thoreau wrote Walden in an effort to unshackle America from the consumerism, competitiveness, and dishonesty that created a new nation without reaching true freedom and equality. Thoreau’s book is about a better, simpler life and about settling a continent stolen from Native peoples and aided by the sin of slavery. I spoke with Benjamin Reiss, of Emory University about how to read philosophically, and how to get a good night’s sleep.
