This major study brings to light Thoreau's relation to the complex economic discourse of his time and place. Specifically, it examines the impact of transformations in economic thinking and behavior that occurred in antebellum New England and America; these transformations at the level of language; and Thoreau's awareness of these transformations. Neufeldt situates Thoreau in significant economic conditions of his time, investigating how these conditions contained him even as he sought to contain them. Using Walden and "Life without Principle," as main examples, the book considers...