Essayist, lecturer, poet, and America's first "public intellectual," Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) is the central figure in nineteenth-century American letters and the leader (albeit reluctantly) of the Transcendental group. A literary mover and shaker, his unpopular early radicalism was directed toward social institutions (the church, education, literary conventions); by his death in 1882, however, his reputation was already solidifying as a national icon. Somewhere between the iconic sage and the speculative idealist lies an Emerson students don't often encounter, a flesh-and-blood figure whose writings testified to his continuing exploration of the individual's place in an increasingly conformist and crowded world. In its selections and its apparatus, this Broadview edition bridges the gap between Emerson and students by stressing his real-world engagements.

The collection contains a range of prose and poetry representing some of Emerson's central concerns-nature and the self; poetry and the artist; religion and social reform. Historical appendices include materials on Transcendentalism, the contemporary debate, in which Emerson participated, about the validity of Biblical miracles, and other authors' responses to Emerson.