"An essential step in Thoreau's recovery of a 'natural life' is to reawaken and expand his awareness of the present moment, not only in the sense of knowing more of the world around him, but of entering into it fully. Admitting in Walden that 'I did not read books the first summer; I hoed beans, ' he also confesses to moments in which he neglected both of these conflicting duties. . . . In periods of reverie, Thoreau gave himself over to his senses, finding a fulfillment in his own attentive presence at the pond and the surrounding hills." from Natural LifeHenry David Thoreau's Walden was...

"Simply the best selection ever made from the spiritual writings of America's most influential sage." -John Buehrens, author of Understanding the Bible 'A guided anthology that takes the reader through Emerson's own spiritual evolution.' -Robert D. Richardson, Jr., author of Emerson: The Mind on Fire Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803n1882) is known best in the twenty-first century as a literary innovator and early architect of American intellectual culture, but his writings still offer spiritual sustenance to the thoughtful reader. The Spiritual Emerson, originally published on the two hundredth...

Robinson discusses each of Emerson's major later works noting their increasing orientation to a philosophy of the 'conduct of life'.

The rise of the Mongol empire transformed world history. Its collapse in the mid-14th century had equally profound consequences. Four themes dominate this study of the late Mongol empire in Northeast Asia during this chaotic era.