Cape Cod
Henry David Thoreau
Edited by Joseph J. Moldenhauer
With a new introduction by Robert Pinsky

Paper | 2004 | $14.95 / £10.95 | ISBN: 9780691118420
256 pp. | 5 x 8

Also available in hardcover

eBook | ISBN: 9781400834129 | Where to buy this ebook

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This new paperback edition of Henry D. Thoreau's compelling account of Cape Cod contains the complete, definitive text of the original. Introduced by American poet and literary critic Robert Pinsky--himself a resident of Cape Cod--this volume contains some of Thoreau's most beautiful writings.

In the plants, animals, topography, weather, and people of Cape Cod, Thoreau finds "another world" Encounters with the ocean dominate this book, from the fatal shipwreck of the opening chapter to his later reflections on the Pilgrims' landing and reconnaissance. Along the way, Thoreau relates the experiences of fishermen and oystermen, farmers and salvagers, lighthouse-keepers and ship captains, as well as his own intense confrontations with the sea as he travels the land's outermost margins. Chronicles of exploration, settlement, and survival on the Cape lead Thoreau to reconceive the history of New England--and to recognize the parochialism of history itself.

Review:

"Cape Cod is Thoreau's sunniest, happiest book. It bubbles over with jokes, puns, tall tales, and genial good humor. . . . Unquestionably the best book that has ever been written about Cape Cod, and it is the model to which all new books about the Cape are still compared."--Walter Harding, The Days of Henry Thoreau

Table of Contents:

Introduction by Robert Pinsky ix
I. The Shipwreck 3
II. Stage-Coach Views 15
III. The Plains of Nauset 24
IV. The Beach 44
V. The Wellfleet Oysterman 62
VI. The Beach Again 80
VII. Across the Cape 101
VIII. The Highland Light 118
IX. The Sea and the Desert 139
X. Provincetown 167
Index 217

Other Princeton books authored or coauthored by Robert Pinsky:

• Democracy, Culture and the Voice of Poetry.
• An Explanation of America.
• Sadness and Happiness: Poems by Robert Pinsky.
• The Situation of Poetry: Contemporary Poetry and Its Traditions.

Other Princeton books authored or coauthored by Henry David Thoreau:

• Excursions.
• The Higher Law: Thoreau on Civil Disobedience and Reform.
• The Maine Woods.
• On Reading: From Walden.
• Walden.
• A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers.
• The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Cape Cod.
• The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Early Essays and Miscellanies.
• The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Journal, Volume 1: 1837-1844.
• The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Journal, Volume 2: 1842-1848.
• The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Journal, Volume 3: 1848-1851.
• The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Journal, Volume 4: 1851-1852.
• The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Journal, Volume 5: 1852-1853.
• The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Journal, Volume 6: 1853.
• The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Journal, Volume 7: 1853-1854.
• The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Journal, Volume 8: 1854.
• The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: The Maine Woods.
• The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Reform Papers.
• The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Translations.
• The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Walden.
• The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers.

Other Princeton books authored or coauthored by Joseph J. Moldenhauer:

• Excursions.
• The Maine Woods.
• The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Cape Cod.
• The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Early Essays and Miscellanies.
• The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: The Maine Woods.

Series:

• Writings of Henry D. Thoreau
  Elizabeth Hall Witherell, Editor-in-Chief

Subject Areas:

• American Literature
• Literature: Primary Works and Letters

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For customers in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Asia, and Australia
Paper: $14.95 ISBN: 9780691118420

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