Henry David Thoreau's masterwork, Walden, is a collection of his reflections on life and society. His simple but profound musings—as well as Civil Disobedience, his protest against the government's interference with civil liberty—have inspired many to embrace his philosophy of individualism and love of nature. Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau) was an American author, naturalist, transcendentalist, tax resister, development critic, philosopher, and abolitionist who is best known for Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state. A sturdy individualist and a lover of nature, Henry David Thoreau was typical of his time and place-an epitome of the Yankee spirit. In March, 1845, he set out to live life in a new way. Borrowing an ax, he built himself a wooden hut on the edge of Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts, where he lived until September, 1847. Walden is a record of that experiment in simple living. In this fascinating work Thoreau describes his Robinson Crusoe existence, bare of creature comforts but rich in contemplation of the wonders of nature and the ways of man. On the Duty of Civil Disobedience is Thoreau's classic protest against government's interference with individual liberty One of the most famous essays ever written, it came to the attention of Gandhi and formed the basis for his passive resistance movement.