Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Volume XV: 1860–1866

“What appeals in this volume is the freshness and nearness of Emerson the person. A man so reserved and scrupulous is only to be known in his private journals. That his earlier editors Edward Waldo Emerson and Waldo Emerson Forbes made him less of a person is well known. This latest volume furthers the restoration of his wildness, his uncertainties, and his originality.”—American Historical Review

“No American mind stands more influentially for creativity than Emerson’s. And these lifelong records, his journals particularly, provide unique glimpses into his growth… His journalizing was literary practice, but above all, it was a heritage from the unsparing Puritan self-examination of the spirit.”—The Chicago Tribune

“That the editors have been able to order this fascinating chaos is a tribute to their patience, intelligence, and skill. There will never have to be another edition.”—The New York Times Book Review

“[Emerson’s journals] make the fullness of his humanity and his understanding of the country he was living in unmistakable. By contrast the published works proclaim the various stances he was driven to assume… In the journals he is both more hard-headed and more warm-hearted.”—The New York Times Book Review