{"product_id":"a-week-on-the-concord-and-merrimack-rivers-9780691118789","title":"A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThoreau's classic account of a river journey depicting the early years of his spiritual and artistic growth\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis paperback edition of Henry D. Thoreau's \u003ci\u003eA Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers\u003c\/i\u003e features an invaluable introduction by noted writer John McPhee. Unusual for its symbolism and structure, its criticism of Christian institutions, and its many-layered storytelling, this classic work was Thoreau's first published book. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the late summer of 1839, Thoreau and his older brother John made a two-week boat-and-hiking trip from Concord, Massachusetts, to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. After John's sudden death in 1842, Thoreau began to prepare a memorial account of their excursion. He wrote two drafts of this story at Walden Pond, which he continued to revise and expand until 1849, when he arranged for its publication at his own expense. The book's heterodoxy and apparent formlessness troubled its contemporary audience, but modern readers have come to see it as an appropriate predecessor to \u003ci\u003eWalden\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn McPhee\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of many books, including \u003ci\u003eThe Control of Nature, Irons in the Fire\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eAnnals of the Former World\u003c\/i\u003e, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1999.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Princeton University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50412812173586,"sku":"9780691118789","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_bade3782-0a95-49cd-b467-037ab6862b63.jpg?v=1737111584","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-week-on-the-concord-and-merrimack-rivers-9780691118789","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}