On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (Version 3): Free Audiobook and Listening Guide
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (Version 3) by Henry David Thoreau: the LibriVox audiobook summary, 2 original MP3 tracks, 1:07:10 running time and a link to listen.
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (Version 3), credited to Henry David Thoreau, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.
About the work
The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:
LibriVox recording of On the Duty of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau. Read in English by Phil Chenevert "That government is best which governs least" is the famous opening line of this essay. The slavery crisis inflamed New England in the 1840s and 1850s. The environment became especially tense after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. A lifelong abolitionist, Thoreau delivered an impassioned speech which would later become Civil Disobedience in 1848, just months after leaving Walden Pond. The speech dealt with slavery, but at the same time excoriated American imperialism, particularly the Mexican–American War. Thoreau asserts that because governments are typically more harmful than helpful, they therefore cannot be justified. Democracy is no cure for this, as majorities simply by virtue of being majorities do not also gain the virtues of wisdom and justice. The judgment of an individual's conscience is not necessarily inferior to the decisions of a political body or majority, and so "[i]t is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.... Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice." He adds, "I cannot for an instant recognize as my government [that] which is the slave's government also." from Wikipedia
Recording facts
- Recording title: On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (Version 3)
- Author credits: Henry David Thoreau
- Language: English
- Original MP3 tracks: 2
- Listed recording duration: 1:07:10
Track guide
- 01 - Part 1 — 34:16
- 02 - Part 2 — 32:54
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Source and rights
This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.
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