Editing Concord, Massachusetts (section)

===Literary history===
{{See also|Barrow Bookstore}}[[File:The Old Manse (view from Concord River), Concord, Massachusetts.JPG|thumb|[[The Old Manse]], home to [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] and later [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]]]]
Concord has a remarkably rich literary history centered in the 19th century around [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] (1803–1882), who moved there in 1835 and quickly became its most prominent citizen.<ref name="EmersontoConcord">{{cite web|url=http://www.concordlibrary.org/scollect/Emerson_Celebration/Introduction.html|title=Emerson in Concord|publisher=Concord Public Library – Special Collections|access-date=April 18, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929163320/http://www.concordlibrary.org/scollect/Emerson_Celebration/Introduction.html|archive-date=September 29, 2007}}</ref> A successful lecturer and philosopher, Emerson had deep roots in the town: his father, [[William Emerson (minister)|Rev. William Emerson]] (1769–1811), grew up in Concord before becoming an eminent Boston minister, and his grandfather, [[William Emerson Sr.]], witnessed the battle at the North Bridge from his house, and later became a chaplain in the Continental Army.<ref name="Emerson">{{cite web|url=http://www.concordnet.org/library/scollect/Emerson_Celebration/Section_1_Essay.html|title=Emerson's Concord Heritage|publisher=Concord Public Library – Special Collections|access-date=April 9, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070205235202/http://www.concordnet.org/library/scollect/Emerson_Celebration/Section_1_Essay.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive -->|archive-date=February 5, 2007}}</ref> Emerson was at the center of a group of like-minded [[Transcendentalism|Transcendentalists]] living in Concord.<ref name="WPond">{{cite web|url=http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/northeast/wldn.htm|title=Henry David Thoreau|publisher=Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation|access-date=April 9, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070408022438/http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/northeast/wldn.htm|archive-date=April 8, 2007}}</ref> Among them were the author [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]] (1804–1864) and the philosopher [[Amos Bronson Alcott]] (1799–1888), the father of [[Louisa May Alcott]] (1832–1888). A native Concordian, [[Henry David Thoreau]] (1817–1862) was another notable member of Emerson's circle. This substantial collection of literary talent in one small town led [[Henry James]] to dub Concord "the biggest little place in America."<ref name="Cheever">{{cite news|last=Kehe|first=Marjorie|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1219/p14s02-bogn.html|title=Scenes from an American Eden|newspaper=The Christian Science Monitor|access-date=March 6, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070210092738/http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1219/p14s02-bogn.html|archive-date=February 10, 2007}}</ref>

Among the products of this intellectually stimulating environment were Emerson's many essays, including ''[[Self-Reliance]]'' (1841), Louisa May Alcott's novel ''[[Little Women]]'' (1868), and Hawthorne's story collection ''[[Mosses from an Old Manse]]'' (1846).<ref name="Authorama">{{cite web|last=Perry|first=Bliss|url=http://www.authorama.com/american-spirit-in-literature-6.html|title=The American Spirit in Literature: The Transcendentalists|publisher=Authorama.com (public domain)|access-date=April 9, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929091421/http://www.authorama.com/american-spirit-in-literature-6.html|archive-date=September 29, 2007}}</ref> Thoreau famously lived in a small cabin near [[Walden Pond]], where he wrote ''[[Walden]]'' (1854).<ref name="NPR">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/walden/|title=Thoreau's Walden, Present at the Creation|publisher=National Public Radio|access-date=April 9, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070403133625/http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/walden/|archive-date=April 3, 2007}}</ref> After being imprisoned in the Concord jail for refusing to pay taxes in political protest against [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]] and the [[Mexican–American War]], Thoreau penned the influential essay "Resistance to Civil Government", popularly known as ''[[Civil Disobedience (Thoreau)|Civil Disobedience]]'' (1849).<ref name="FFF">{{cite web|last=McElroy|first=Wendy|url=http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0503e.asp|title=Henry David Thoreau and 'Civil Disobedience'|publisher=The Future of Freedom Foundation|access-date=April 9, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070404173449/http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0503e.asp|archive-date=April 4, 2007}}</ref> Evidencing their strong political beliefs through actions, Thoreau and many of his neighbors served as station masters and agents on the [[Underground Railroad]].<ref name="thoreauUR">{{cite web|url=http://www.calliope.org/thoreau/thurro/thurro2.html|title=Thoreau, Civil Disobedience, and the Underground Railroad|publisher=The Thoreau Project|access-date=December 6, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111116030252/http://www.calliope.org/thoreau/thurro/thurro2.html|archive-date=November 16, 2011}}</ref>

[[The Wayside]], a house on Lexington Road, has been home to several authors.<ref name="Wayside">{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/mima/wayside/index1.htm|title=The Wayside|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 9, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070510062509/http://www.nps.gov/archive/mima/wayside/index1.htm|archive-date=May 10, 2007}}</ref> It was occupied by scientist [[John Winthrop (1714-1779)|John Winthrop]] (1714–1779) when [[Harvard College]] was temporarily moved to Concord during the Revolutionary War.<ref name="Winthrop">{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/mima/wayside/Histfrm1.htm|title=The Wayside: History|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 9, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071120022552/http://www.nps.gov/archive/mima/wayside/Histfrm1.htm|archive-date=November 20, 2007}}</ref> The Wayside was later the home of the Alcott family (who referred to it as "Hillside"); the Alcotts sold it to Hawthorne in 1852, and the family moved into the adjacent [[Orchard House]] in 1858. Hawthorne dubbed the house "The Wayside" and lived there until his death. The house was purchased in 1883 by Boston publisher [[Daniel Lothrop]] and his wife, Harriett, who wrote the [[Five Little Peppers]] series and other children's books under the pen name [[Margaret Sidney]].<ref name="Sidney">{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/mima/wayside/Marg.htm|title=The Wayside Authors|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 9, 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070422161547/http://www.nps.gov/archive/mima/wayside/Marg.htm|archive-date=April 22, 2007}}</ref> Today, The Wayside and the Orchard House are both museums. Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne and the Alcotts are buried on Authors' Ridge in Concord's [[Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (Concord, Massachusetts)|Sleepy Hollow Cemetery]].<ref name="G&M">{{cite news|last=Lipman|first=Lisa|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20001129.TR29GRAV/TPStory/Travel|title=Writers rest in Sleepy Hollow|publisher=The Globe & Mail|access-date=April 9, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930065400/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20001129.TR29GRAV/TPStory/Travel|archive-date=September 30, 2007}}</ref>

The 20th-century composer [[Charles Ives]] wrote his ''[[Concord Sonata]]'' ({{circa|1904–1915|lk=no}}) as a series of impressionistic portraits of literary figures associated with the town. Concord maintains a lively literary culture to this day; notable authors who have called the town home in recent years include [[Doris Kearns Goodwin]], [[Alan Lightman]], [[Robert B. Parker]] and [[Gregory Maguire]].