Danny Heitman: Fourth of July and Thoreau Remind Us That U.S. Progress is Linked with its Ecology
[Danny Heitman, a columnist for The Baton Rouge Advocate, is the author of “A Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oakley House.”]
The Fourth of July is not only America’s birthday, but also the anniversary of one of the boldest experiments in American letters.
On July 4, 1845, Henry David Thoreau moved into a small cabin near Walden Pond in Massachusetts and began writing “Walden,” the autobiographical book that would define his legacy.
Thoreau was many things – naturalist, political dissident, professional crank – but he was also one of our earliest and most memorable media critics.
His reservations about the limits of journalism resonate with particular urgency today, as a massive oil spill near my home state of Louisiana underscores what Thoreau found lacking in media culture....
Read entire article at CS Monitor
The Fourth of July is not only America’s birthday, but also the anniversary of one of the boldest experiments in American letters.
On July 4, 1845, Henry David Thoreau moved into a small cabin near Walden Pond in Massachusetts and began writing “Walden,” the autobiographical book that would define his legacy.
Thoreau was many things – naturalist, political dissident, professional crank – but he was also one of our earliest and most memorable media critics.
His reservations about the limits of journalism resonate with particular urgency today, as a massive oil spill near my home state of Louisiana underscores what Thoreau found lacking in media culture....