The Active Soul: Emerson and Thoreau on Reform and Civil Disobedience

The abolitionist work of Emerson and Thoreau is the main focus of the essays and speeches collected in this volume. By exploring that work we also find the roots of today’s intolerable and seemingly intractable injustices, including climate injustice fueled by environmental racism. But what does effective counter-friction activism look like? Do we fight for reform of existing institutions, more radical change, or for both? Do we start with changing ourselves or society or both? What are the best strategies for changing lifeways and structures? What rhetoric is most persuasive? Is violence ever a proper response to violence? Does turning to violence lead to the loss of the moral high ground? How should we define violence? How can we pursue the ethical good while putting up the good fight? There are plenty of lessons to be learned from the writings and actions of Emerson and Thoreau, who delved deeply into these questions by applying transcendentalist principles to the abolitionist cause.

William Homestead is an associate professor and author of NOT TILL WE ARE LOST: THOREAU, EDUCATION, AND CLIMATE CRISIS and AN ECOLOGY OF COMMUNICATION: RESPONSE AND RESPONSIBILITY IN AN AGE OF ECOCRISIS. He had a long association with the Ometeca Institute, a nonprofit devoted to the integration of the sciences and humanities. Homestead is a member of the Thoreau Society and the International Environmental Communication Association (IECA).