Cedar Rapids Gazette
January 6, 1993
When rock musician Don Henley learned that the forest that inspired Thoreau in 1845 was threatened by developers, he organized the Walden Woods Project to acquire and preserve the area. This volume of essays by actors, musicians, conservationists, politicians and writers was produced to raise funds for the preservation effort. The quality of the contributions varies considerably.
The authors of the most thoughtful pieces leaven their concern with humor: Bette Midler recalls her uncertain initiation into the joys of organic gardening, while Wallace Stegner offers some delightfully grumpy reflections on Thoreau. E.L. Doctorow notes: “That Walden is a humble place – an ordinary pond, a plain New England wood – is exactly the point. Thoreau made himself an Everyman, and chose Walden for his Everywhere.”\
