Reviews
"Those who have long relished this earthy, adventurous book, as well as those who are discovering it for the first time, have reason to rejoice over this new edition, which has been so meticulously annotated by Jeffrey Cramer.”—Scott Russell Sanders, author of A Conservationist Manifesto.
"Fresh access to The Maine Woods alone would justify this finely organized edition. Thanks to Jeffrey Cramer's scrupulous, devoted elucidation, we now have Thoreau's whole word- and thought-horde, as this great writer, steeped in natural history, ventures between vivid detail and rapture. Everything comes alive in these newly revealing pages, from the 'Vast, Titanic,inhuman nature' Thoreau finds climbing Ktaadn to his respect for Maine's Native Americans."— John Felstiner, author of Can Poetry Save the Earth: A Field Guide to Nature Poems
“Having given us his beautifully annotated selections from Thoreau's journals, Jeffrey Cramer turns his attention to the Maine Woods. It is with great pleasure that we get to follow Thoreau down rivers, up mountains, and after moose, peaking with his famous experience of ‘contact!’ atop Mount Katahdin. Cramer, as our secondary guide, provides us with context, insights, and hard facts, annotations that are, to paraphrase Thoreau, clear, condensed and nut-hard. A joy to read.”—David Gessner, University of North Carolina at Wilmington
"It is good to have this annotated edition of The Maine Woods, prepared by a Thoreau scholar as capable, knowledgeable, and sympathetic as Jeffrey S. Cramer. Thoreau did not live to finish this book, but it is a window on Walden and its author.”—Jonathan Weiner, author of The Beak of the Finch
"Cramer . . . has produced another must-read text. . . . The annotations invoke a cultural and intellectual context for Thoreau's narratives, clarifying, complicating, and enriching the texts. . . . This delightful work not only contributes to the scholarly study of Thoreau but also increases accessibility to Thoreau's works. Summing up: Highly recommended." —Choice (July 2010)