Thoreau, A Life Sublime by Maximilien Le Roy \

A brief take on the life of Henry David Thoreau, a philosopher, an anti-slave activist, and as a result an anti-government activist.  He was a graduate of Harvard.  Known for Walden, or Life in the Woods, and Civil Disobedience, he spoke for John Brown’s release and then at his funeral and then memorialized the man in The Last Days of John Brown.  He spent his time living as natural a life as he could find.  He spent time with Native Americans to learn how they lived with nature instead of working against it.  He worked as a conductor on the underground railroad.  He refused to pay his taxes because he did not want to fund a government that approved of slavery and passed the fugitive slave act.  He spoke against this when a runaway slave was found and captured in Massachusetts.  He was a friend of John Brown and spoke with him for many years against the idea of a slave uprising.  But once Brown was captured, he came to his defense.  He was frugal to a fault, refusing to travel to get better treatment for his tuberculosis.  It finally killed him at the age of 44 in 1862.  His life, though brief has had lasting effect upon American and the world.