Henry David Thoreau

Born July 12, 1817, David Henry Thoreau - he later swapped the names - grew into a leading transcendentalist whose close observation of the natural world anticipated modern ecology. His two years of simple living near Walden Pond became Walden, a reflection that interweaves nature writing, personal experience, and philosophical austerity. His essay "Resistance to Civil Government" argued for citizen disobedience against unjust states, a stance he carried into abolitionism - lecturing against the fugitive slave law and defending John Brown. Over 20 volumes of books, journals, and poetry followed, marked by poetic sensibility and attention to survival amid decay. He died May 6, 1862, but the philosophy outlasted him: Tolstoy, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. each found traction in his refusal.