To coincide with the bicentennial of Thoreau's birth in 2017, this thrilling, meticulous biography by naturalist and historian Kevin Dann fills a gap in our understanding of one modern history's most important spiritual visionaries by capturing the full arc of Thoreau's life as a mystic, spiritual seeker, and explorer in transcendental realms.
Historian, naturalist, and troubadour Kevin Dann is the author of ten books, including Across the Great Border Fault- The Naturalist Myth in America and Lewis Creek Lost and Found. He received his PhD from Rutgers University in American History and Environmental History. Dann has taught at Rutgers, University of Vermont, and the State University of New York. In the spring of 2009, he walked from Montreal to Manhattan to commemorate the 400th anniversaries of Hudson's and Champlain's voyages, and, having crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, decided to make his home there.
"Far from the well-worn paths of academic scholarship, Dann
acquaints his reader with a protagonist who is an American mystic,
a new-age prophet, a cosmic explorer ... Dann takes the road less
traveled, leading a reader into out-of-the-way places, through
hidden passages in Thoreau's personal life ... Expect Great Things
is eccentric, strange, even far-fetched, but nonetheless admirable
-- a bit like Henry David Thoreau." --John Kaag, New York Times
Book Review "[I]n plumbing Thoreau's own singular and profoundly
personal quest for the infinite, [Dann] delivers keen insights. A
refreshing new perspective on an American icon." -Booklist, starred
review "A graceful, attentive inquiry into the mind of Henry David
Thoreau ... Dann shows an ease with the metaphysical (which is
typically considered at odds with the discipline of the historian),
making a warm sympathetic argument for Thoreau as a mystic and
visionary and redefining his reputation." -Publishers Weekly"A
reappraisal of the writer's life, focusing on Thoreau's connection
to, and celebration of, the invisible and ineffable ... Thoreau
emerges from this admiring portrait as a man richly connected to
the cosmos." -Kirkus Reviews
"If you think you know all about Thoreau think again. Expect Great
Things reintroduces an American icon in a thoroughly fresh and
vital way, bringing to crackling life a time and place full of
drama, achievement, adventure, and excitement. Thoreau reached
spiritual maturity in an age like our own, full of uncertainty and
potential. Kevin Dann's highly readable prose places Thoreau amid
an assortment of eccentric characters and shows how his philosophy
of solitude and nature may be more relevant today than ever
before." -Gary Lachman, author of The Secret Teachers of the
Western World "A vivid and beautifully written portrait not only of
Thoreau but of his milieu. And it does full justice to Thoreau's
nature mysticism." -Richard Smoley, author of How God Became God:
What Scholars Are Really Saying about God and the Bible"Kevin
Dann's biography of Henry David Thoreau offers a refreshing
perspective on the most down-to-earth of the Transcendentalists.
Dann shows how Thoreau's free-ranging musings encompassed many of
the otherworldly interests of his contemporaries, such as a
fascination with faeries, mysterious appearances of gossamer, and
other curiosities. Dann makes a strong case that while Thoreau's
writings were grounded in tough-minded observations of nature, his
own worldview and 'sympathetic science' were far from
disenchanted." -Fred Nadis, author of The Man from Mars: Ray
Palmer's Amazing Pulp Adventure and Wonder Shows: Performing
Science, Magic, and Religion in America
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