This past summer, Roaring Forties Press - through its distributor, Independent Publishers Group - released A Journey into the Transcendentalists' New England by R. Todd Felton. This work presents in word and photography the places that inspired seminal American literary and philosophical figures, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Emily Dickinson. Felton focuses on the Massachusetts communities of Cambridge, Concord, and Amherst. He writes vividly of - and photographs beautifully - the streets and landscapes from which arose the intellectual ferment that was Transcendentalism. The full bloom of Transcendentalism happened over a very short period of time - the 1830s and 1840s - but it had a long lasting effect on the politics and values of this country - and particularly this region of New England. The view that Todd Felton gives of the New England that inspired this bloom is edifying indeed.
Felton has been making appearances promoting this book - the next one is scheduled for Saturday, October 21, at 2:30 PM at The Jeffrey Amherst Bookshop in Amherst, Massachusetts. (Disclosure: Todd Felton is a friend - and I had the privilege of reviewing the book in draft form. I was impressed with the draft - and am further impressed with the final product. Well done, Todd!)
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