Introduction: Thoreau Bicentennial Essays

Abstract

If, as Henry David Thoreau wrote in A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, the value of a written work is determined by “time and the use to which a thing is put,” Thoreau’s reputation is more secure than ever. Although our views of Thoreau have changed with the times, in this bicentennial year of his birth his reputation is more secure than ever as the uses to which his writing is put continue to evolve – in his most popular works, in his travel narratives, and in his late nature writings. The essays in the present bicentennial collection testify to Thoreau’s widening influence in America and around the world.