Thoreau And Transcendentalism

We, as readers populating the latest incarnation of the same democratic experiment, owe it not to Thoreau, but to the continued development of our society, to read and understand the Transcendentalism of Thoreau; because of the valid and compelling rhetorical criticisms of inertial institutions that remain timelessly applicable. Some might argue that we gain a sense of how difficult it is to resist social conformity when we consider that Thoreau himself was unable to live consistently how he advocated. His failure presents us with the question of undertaking the moral and spiritual burden of democratic citizenship. I would say that this is exactly the question which must be presented to students in our democracy today. In his philosophy, even