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The Oregon Trail
Francis Parkman 1848 (Horses, rifles, and knives see a party of adventurers through the land of expansive plains, craggy mountains, buffalo, and the Sioux.) “Shaw! Buddy!” Imagine a young, spontaneous Yankee calling out to his friend, both of them just out of college. He proposes that they leave the effeminate comforts of the East, and […]
Discourse on Method
(Discours de la méthode) René Descartes 1637 (A scientist-philosopher wishes that all the deep questions of life could be as certain as his mathematical results—so he decides to start from scratch and make them that way.) The influence this little book has had over the past few centuries is (to make a ridiculous understatement) vastly […]
Pliny’s Letters
Pliny the Younger 97-109 AD (A wealthy lawyer reveals his personality and attitudes, and the way of life in Imperial Rome.) Many of us are acquainted with, or at least aware of, a certain species of lawyer, politician, or businessman. At first we notice the more grating aspects of his personality. He is near the top […]
Walden
Henry David Thoreau 1854 (A philosopher and naturalist returns from the woods to deliver a message: Wake Up! Think! Live Meaningfully!) The account of Thoreau’s temporary retreat from civilization and the philosophy he developed and tested during that time, is perhaps the greatest single work in American literature. I say this not so much because […]
Passages from the American Notebooks
May 24, 2014 / Leave a comment
Nathaniel Hawthorne 1835-1853 (The exercise of a young author’s pen creates images of the New England landscape and its people.) Mrs. Sophia Hawthorne, after the death of her husband in 1864, respected his wish that no biography be written of him. However, in lieu of this, she released to an eager public three successive volleys […]
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