---
product_id: 4629326
title: "The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Modern Library Classics)"
price: "$904"
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---

# The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Modern Library Classics)

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## Description

desertcart.com: The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Modern Library Classics): 9780679783220: Emerson, Ralph Waldo, Atkinson, Brooks, Oliver, Mary: Books

Review: A great anthology and a great man! - In "The Varieties of Religious Experience," William James devotes an early chapter to a type of personality most of us have known: the man who is perennially optimistic and cheerful, and almost always in a sunny mood. This "healthy mind," says James, is easy to see in a person like Walt Whitman --- and he would doubtless have included Ralph Waldo Emerson as another obvious example. In such persons, according to James, "happiness is congenital and irreclaimable." Matthew Arnold put it this way: "Emerson's systematic benevolence comes from what he himself calls somewhere his 'persistent optimism,' and his persistent optimism is the root of his greatness and the source of his charm." One of the golden nuggets in this Emerson anthology is the famous essay on "Self-Reliance." Modern readers might imagine that this essay would be about economics, but not so: the heart of it is this --- "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself, for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried." To put it in other words, "Know thyself" (Socrates would agree) and "Be thyself." Aping celebrities and adopting ideologies are no part of self-reliance; in fact, Emerson explicitly deplores men who have become slaves of an ideology. "If I know your sect I anticipate your argument." In fact, "whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist." Conformity makes men not just false in a few small things, but false in everything. This is most excellent advice, and should be followed while reading Emerson --- or anyone else. You will find yourself disagreeing with him from time to time, and Emerson himself would surely approve and applaud. The physical book reviewed here is extremely well-edited and well-made. The introduction by Mary Oliver is excellent and helpful. Unless you become a true Emerson devotee, this volume is likely to be all you need.
Review: Good book for college students - Delivered in time. A good book for college students.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #26,880 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #14 in American Fiction Anthologies #53 in Essays (Books) #1,118 in Classic Literature & Fiction |
| Customer Reviews | 4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars (724) |
| Dimensions  | 5.2 x 1.8 x 8 inches |
| Edition  | 1st |
| ISBN-10  | 0679783229 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0679783220 |
| Item Weight  | 1.31 pounds |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 880 pages |
| Publication date  | September 12, 2000 |
| Publisher  | Modern Library |

## Images

![The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Modern Library Classics) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71R0rqoOpXL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A great anthology and a great man!
*by G***H on September 22, 2009*

In "The Varieties of Religious Experience," William James devotes an early chapter to a type of personality most of us have known: the man who is perennially optimistic and cheerful, and almost always in a sunny mood. This "healthy mind," says James, is easy to see in a person like Walt Whitman --- and he would doubtless have included Ralph Waldo Emerson as another obvious example. In such persons, according to James, "happiness is congenital and irreclaimable." Matthew Arnold put it this way: "Emerson's systematic benevolence comes from what he himself calls somewhere his 'persistent optimism,' and his persistent optimism is the root of his greatness and the source of his charm." One of the golden nuggets in this Emerson anthology is the famous essay on "Self-Reliance." Modern readers might imagine that this essay would be about economics, but not so: the heart of it is this --- "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself, for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried." To put it in other words, "Know thyself" (Socrates would agree) and "Be thyself." Aping celebrities and adopting ideologies are no part of self-reliance; in fact, Emerson explicitly deplores men who have become slaves of an ideology. "If I know your sect I anticipate your argument." In fact, "whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist." Conformity makes men not just false in a few small things, but false in everything. This is most excellent advice, and should be followed while reading Emerson --- or anyone else. You will find yourself disagreeing with him from time to time, and Emerson himself would surely approve and applaud. The physical book reviewed here is extremely well-edited and well-made. The introduction by Mary Oliver is excellent and helpful. Unless you become a true Emerson devotee, this volume is likely to be all you need.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good book for college students
*by M***K on February 25, 2025*

Delivered in time. A good book for college students.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Eye Opening Essays
*by C***N on April 22, 2008*

If the words of Whitman do not prompt one to at least explore the ideas of Ralph Waldo Emerson, nothing I say will be able to (or should). I suppose though many readers have merely seen Emerson's name after a famous quote or heard it mentioned by others and are curious about what he wrote. The books contains his most essential, influential essays. Each contain classical Emerson thought, unique, hard to pin down, literary... Emerson was known for "trumping the logicians" and appealing to the soul of man. Indeed he does. I have not read this book in its totality, but of the works I have, I have read thoroughly, as thoroughly as I have read perhaps anything, and I must say there is something undeniable about Emerson's reasoning. It is not logical in the dry fashion of philosophy, yet it is poetically, "humanly" appealing. All I can say is read Emerson. He was and is one of America's most influencital writers. Some like him, some hate him, some appreciate though not totally agree with things he sets for (like myself). This particular book presents a good overview of his most renowned works, is affordable, and has a nice introduction. Highly recommended.

## Frequently Bought Together

- The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Modern Library Classics)
- Self-Reliance and Other Essays
- Transcendentalism Collection: Thoreau’s Walden, Walking & Civil Disobedience, Emerson’s Self-Reliance, Nature & The American Scholar, Bryant’s Thanatopsis, & Hawthorne’s Artist of the Beautiful

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*Last updated: 2026-03-06*