This is the first book length biography of Thoreau, written by one of his closest friends. Franklin Benjamin Sanborn graduated from Harvard in 1855 and settled in Concord as a schoolteacher, where his pupils included the children of Emerson, Hawthorne, and the elder Henry James. He was also a close friend of Thoreau and the Alcott family. Contents include: Childhood and Youth ? Concord and its Famous People ? The Transcendental Period ? Friends and Companions ? The Walden Hermitage ? Personal Traits and Social Life ? Poet, Moralist, and Philosopher; and more. AMr. Sanborn=s book is thoroughly American and truly fascinating. Its literary skill is exceptionally good, and there is a racy flavor in its pages and an amount of exact knowledge of interesting people that one seldom meets with in current literature. Mr. Sanborn has done Thoreau=s genius an imperishable service. B American Church Review (New York) AMr. Sanborn has written a careful book about a curious man, whom he has studied as impartially as possible; whom he admires warmly but with discretion; and the story of whose life he has told with commendable frankness and simplicity. B New York Mail and Express AIt is undoubtedly the best life of Thoreau extant.B Christian Advocate (New York)