A sturdy individualist and a lover of nature, Henry David Thoreau was typical of his time and place--an epitome of the Yankee spirit. In March, 1845, he set out to live life in a new way. Borrowing an ax, he built himself a wooden hut on the edge of Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachussetts, where he lived until September, 1847. Walden is a record of that experiment in simple living.