Sorry, New Yorker, Thoreau is more relevant than ever
Kathryn Schulz recently suggested that Henry David Thoreau and his most famous book, “Walden,” are not worth their place as classics of American philosophy and writing. In her article in The New Yorker (“Pond Scum: Henry David Thoreau’s Moral Myopia”), she made some well-worn, if sometimes misleading, points — namely that Thoreau was conceited, contradictory, hypocritical, and perhaps worst of all in Schulz’s eyes, he did not like people or society. She pokes holes in the modern “myths” of Thoreau and “Walden,” which don’t match historical reality. Her article makes for a fun read, but it is decidedly one-sided.