Cape Cod

First published in 1865, “Cape Cod” is one of a series of excursion books by the famed American author and transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau. Most well-known for his influential works Walden and Civil Disobedience, Thoreau was also an observant naturalist and spent much time watching and recording the seasonal patterns of natural spaces. Based on several trips he made to the Cape and originally published as a series of articles, Thoreau’s “Cape Cod” is a remarkable work that depicts the natural beauty of both the Cape and the wild areas that surround it. Thoreau, a consummate lover of the outdoors, felt right at home in the Cape and he details his excitement over discovering the area with detailed and evocative portraits of the indigenous species and animals. Thoreau’s work is both a travel journal and an exploration of the region’s geography and natural history written in the sensitive and astute voice of a philosopher genuinely in love with discovering and understanding a new place. Any lover of nature or of Cape Cod in general will delight in this captivating depiction of the area as it was in the early to mid-1800s. This edition includes a biographical afterword.