Civil Disobedience

From the final decades of the eighteenth century to the present day, a relatively few social and political documents have been written and circulated, then have gone on to change the course of human history. The Manifesto Series surveys some of those documents, presents an account of each manifesto’s immediate impact, then explains how and why its influence spread to a wider audience. Brief and concisely written, each title in this series makes engrossing reading and provides readers with insights into the dynamics of modern history. Each title in this series is enhanced with approximately 70 color illustrations. Lengthy excerpts from Civil Disobedience, a ground-breaking work by the nineteenth-century American social philosopher Henry David Thoreau, is presented in this book with extensive commentary and analysis. Thoreau’s book presents a compelling argument that justifies adherence to one’s conscience when facing questions of morality, even at the cost of defying the law of the land. Approximately a century later, Thoreau’s thinking became one of the major influences in America’s Civil Rights Movement.

Henry David Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience” was first delivered as a lecture in 1848 in support of the antislavery cause. However, it wasn’t until the twentieth century that Thoreau came to be valued for his political ideas. “Civil Disobedience” was a key text for Gandhi and Martin Luther King, and influenced student radicalism in the 1960s. Much contemporary political thinking (distrust of the power of the state; direct action versus the ballot box; the anti-globalization movement) is addressed by Thoreau’s ideas on the importance of individuals, informed dissent, and nonviolent resistance. Manifesto: Words That Changed the World contains quotes from the essay. Commentary by Andrew Kirk examines its historical context and worldwide repercussions.