On July 12, 1817, American writer and philosopher Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts. One of the leading transcendentalists, Thoreau ruminated on nature, justice, and self-perception. His oft-assigned Walden discusses nature and self-reliance while “Civil Disobedience” (in part a response to Thoreau’s disgust with the Mexican-American War) has inspired such leading civil rights […]