`A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.'


Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882) was an American essayist
and poet. One of the young nation's first recognised public intellectuals, he
championed the writing of Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman and opined on
everything from the evils of slavery to the glories of solitude. His essays
such as Self-Reliance argued for a distinctly American style of philosophical
individualism, untethered to hidebound traditions and prejudices.


Edited by professor David Mikics (The Annotated Emerson) and enhanced with gorgeous woodcuts by
Charles W. Smith, this collection of Emerson's essays and poetry is a beautiful
introduction to one of America's greatest writers and thinkers.