This superb edition of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Self-reliance and Other Essays bring the original wisdom and ideas of individualism to the reader.
Written in the 1840s when Emerson was at his prolific peak, these essays encapsulate the unique take on the world which in many ways mirrored the ascendant attitudes of the United States in the 19th century. The young country, still finding its intellectual footing, would be greatly affected by thinkers such as Emerson, whose views and outlook would come to popularly define the rapidly expanding nation of the USA.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's ideas and influence would grow thanks to the ceaseless hard work. In his lifetime Emerson would engage in over 1500 lectures to academic, religious and other audiences, spreading his ideas far and wide across the continental USA. It was his most famed essay Self-reliance which would succinctly encapsulate Emerson's passionate belief in the power of the individual to shape his own world and that of the society around him.
Valuable for his insights on the nature of mankind, art and attitude to life, Emerson has - owing to his famous essays - been valued as a historic intellectual in the US and abroad since his death in 1882.
