When the law makes you an agent of injustice, conscience owes the state a principled “no.”

In Civil Disobedience, Thoreau turns that conviction into a method: refuse to fund wrongdoing (even through taxes), accept the penalty, and let a night in jail count as a public vote. Companion essays deepen his argument: Slavery in Massachusetts indicts civic complicity; Life Without Principle skewers a culture that sells time and integrity; Walking shows how wild places restore independent judgement; A Plea for Captain John Brown asks how far moral courage must go. Thoreau’s prose is flinty and clear—part field notebook, part manifesto—calling for simpler lives and accountable action.

This slim book offers a usable template for ethical resistance—and the everyday practice of freedom.