Thoreau and the Environment

Hemond, Harold. “Biogeochemistry of Thoreau’s Bog, Concord, Massachusetts.”

Ecological Monographs 50 (December 1980): 507-526.

This essay analyzes the way in which Thoreau’s Bog helps modern-day scientists study the biogeochemistry of Concord, Massachusetts’ wetland system. Such an analysis speaks to the connection between science and literature.

Kroeber, Karl. “Ecology and American Literature: Thoreau and Un-Thoreau.”

American Literary History 9 (Summer 1997): 309-328.

The second essay explains how some American environmental literature follows in Thoreau’s footsteps, while others depart from him. Further, it examines how nature writing and ecological thinking could challenge the current dominant modes of philosophical and literary criticism.