Walden was the fruit of Thoreau´s two-year stay on the Walden Pond. He carefully shaped the book to follow the natural cycle of the seasons, yet it is more than an account of life in the woods, it is a quest for personal freedom and individuality that evokes nature without being sentimental or distorting the natural world. Though widely reviewed at the time of publication, sales did not reflect the attention the book received. It has now become an American classic.;Civil Disobedience, was also based on Thoreau´s experiences during the period he lived on the pond. In 1846, he was arrested for not having paid his poll tax, as a way of demonstrating that he did not recognize the authority of a government that buys and sells men, women, and children. It is a treatise against slavery and a government that wages war to support injustice.