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The Emerson circle : the Concord radicals who reinvented the world / Bruce Nichols.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Nichols, Bruce (Publisher), author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Naturalists.
- Transcendentalism--History.
- Transcendentalism.
- Transcendentalism (New England).
- American literature--19th century.
- American literature.
- American literature--New England.
- naturalists.
- Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882.
- Emerson, Ralph Waldo.
- New England--Intellectual life.
- New England.
- United States--Intellectual life--19th century.
- United States.
- Concord (Mass.)--History--19th century.
- Concord (Mass.).
- Genre:
- Biographies.
- Informational works.
- Physical Description:
- x, 348 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm
- Edition:
- First Avid Reader Press hardcover edition.
- Place of Publication:
- New York, New York : Avid Reader Press, 2026.
- Summary:
- "In the 1840s, America was a land of utopian promise, and nowhere captured this spirit of possibility better than Concord, Massachusetts. At the heart of this intellectual and cultural revolution was Ralph Waldo Emerson, a national celebrity who brought together a circle of bold and creative free thinkers. In The Emerson Circle, Bruce Nichols delivers a fascinating narrative of this transformative era, breathing life into the friendships and philosophies that comprised the titanic intellectual energy of this American Renaissance. Concord wasn't just a town; it was a crucible of innovation and reform. Luminaries such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Margaret Fuller, Louisa May Alcott, and Henry David Thoreau gathered there, united by ideas that would shape the nation. Nichols recreates this vibrant world, packed with brilliant conversations, emotional correspondences, and the essays, novels, speeches, and poetry that forever marked and changed American culture. Along the way, he shares intimate, surprising details -- Thoreau's frustration with Emerson, Hawthorne's intense shyness masking deep love and hate -- that make these iconic figures human. This book captures a forgotten utopian moment in our history. Anything seemed possible: abolishing property, money, and marriage, not just slavery; granting equal rights to women; eating vegan diets; banning alcohol and caffeine. These men and women turned away from the Bible in favor of the natural world and science, and they inspired our greatest early writers to create their most original and lasting works." -- Provided by publisher.
- Contents:
- Prologue
- Book I: The newness. Waldo Emerson and Bronson Alcott
- A temple of learning
- Margaret Fuller
- Blasphemy
- Coolidge Castle
- The satirist in paradise
- Compensations
- Utopia
- Transcendence abroad
- How to live at home
- War, Part I
- Death, Part 1
- The birth of American literature
- Book II: The crisis. The great cause
- The trials of Louisa May
- War, Part II
- Death, Part II
- A child shall lead
- We are in life
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 289-334) and index.
- ISBN:
- 1668094878
- 9781668094877
- OCLC:
- 1523194418
- Publisher Number:
- 90104499968
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