Robert D Richardson

Offers a view of Thoreau's life and his extraordinary achievement in their nineteenth-century context.

Biographer Richardson has written a moving portrait of James--pivotal member of the Metaphysical Club and author of The Varieties of Religious Experience. The biography, ten years in the making, draws on unpublished letters, journals, and family records. Richardson paints extraordinary scenes from what James himself called the "buzzing blooming confusion" of his life, beginning with childhood, as he struggled to achieve amid the domestic chaos and...

"This book explores resilience by tracing the linked stories of how Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and William James dealt with personal tragedy: for Emerson, the death of his young wife and, eleven years later, his five-year-old son; for Thoreau, the death of his brother; and for James, the death of his beloved cousin Minny. Weaving together biographical detail with quotations from the writers' journals and letters, Richardson shows readers...

A collection of writings by Ralph Waldo Emerson, including sermons, poems, and journal excerpts, as well as a portion of his contributions to "Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli," with critical interpretations, and essays that examine the context in which Emerson wrote, and his critical reception.