Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of America's most influential thinkers. His essay, Nature is considered to be the founding document for the Transcendentalism movement, and his influence can be seen in the writings of Whitman, Thoreau, Melville, and countless others. A synthesis of the most relevant interpretations of Emerson and his work, this freshly updated edition offers a first-rate study guide on the 19th-century essayist and philosopher at a level of depth that will lend new insight and inspire research.