Dickens account of his tour of the eastern United States in 1842, and an excellent depiction of the landscape, conditions and mores of pre-Civil War America.
Thoreau’s Walden is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, a voyage of spiritual discovery, satire, and manual for self-reliance. It details Thoreau’s experiences over the course of two years in a cabin he built near Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. By immersing himself in nature, Thoreau hoped to gain a more objective understanding of society through personal introspection. Simple living and self-sufficiency were Thoreau’s other goals, and the whole project was inspired by transcendentalist philosophy, a central theme of the American Romantic Period.