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'''Henry David Thoreau''' (1817-1862) was an American writer and philosopher, and along with [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], a major figure in the Transcendentalist movement. He is perhaps best known for his writings ''Walden'', his account of a two year period in which he lived in relative solitude in Walden Pond in Massachusetts, and ''Civil Disobedience'', which depicts his refusal to pay a tax that would support the Mexican-American War and his resulting arrest.

'''Henry David Thoreau''' (1817-1862) was an American writer and philosopher, and along with [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], a major figure in the Transcendentalist movement. He is perhaps best known for his writings ''Walden'', his account of a two year period in which he lived in relative solitude in Walden Pond in Massachusetts, and ''Civil Disobedience'', which depicts his refusal to pay a tax that would support the Mexican-American War and his resulting arrest.

Thoreau is sometimes thought of as a sort of 1800s [[hippie]], but in fact Thoreau was completely serious about carrying on the family business, which was the manufacturing of pencils. He made significant improvements in their manufacture, and engineered a machine for grinding "plumbago" ([[graphite]]) finer, to produce a higher-quality "lead." Thoreau pencils were regarded as being among the best manufactured in the U. S.<ref>Petroski, Henry (1989), "H. D. Thoreau, Engineer." ''American Heritage of Invention and Technology,'' volume 5, issue 2[http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/1989/2]</ref><!--Also in Petroski's 1992 book, "The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance"--->

Thoreau is sometimes thought of as a sort of 1800s [[hippie]],{{fact-history}} but in fact Thoreau was completely serious about carrying on the family business, which was the manufacturing of pencils. He made significant improvements in their manufacture, and engineered a machine for grinding "plumbago" ([[graphite]]) finer, to produce a higher-quality "lead." Thoreau pencils were regarded as being among the best manufactured in the U. S.<ref>Petroski, Henry (1989), "H. D. Thoreau, Engineer." ''American Heritage of Invention and Technology,'' volume 5, issue 2[http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/1989/2]</ref><!--Also in Petroski's 1992 book, "The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance"--->

==Notes and references==

==Notes and references==