"The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?"--Henry David Thoreau Have you ever visited Walden Pond? I visited Walden Pond for the first time last summer, and became curious about Thoreau, who lived for two years in a one-room cabin on the shores of Walden. In this seminar, we will read and discuss excerpts from Thoreau's writings (possibly parts of Walden or Civil Disobedience), and try to understand why Thoreau's revolutionary thoughts have inspired poets, writers, naturalists, leaders and reformers, including William Butler Yeats, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. Each student in this class will receive a free copy of "Civil Disobedience and Other Essays" by Thoreau.