The acclaimed author of Expect Great Things- The Life and Search of Henry David Thoreau traverses on foot from Manhattan to the site of Thoreau's cabin at Walden Pond, often retracing steps walked by Thoreau himself, and unlocks the practical principles of the mystic's life in the woods.
Historian, naturalist, and troubadour Kevin Dann is the acclaimed author Expect Great Things- The Life and Search of Henry David Thoreau, and 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.
PRAISE FOR EXPECT GREAT THINGS BY KEVIN DANN
"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 Thingsreintroduces 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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