Ralph Waldo Emerson is the leader of the transcendentalist movement, an idealistic philosophy that holds that humans reach their fullest potential when they are truly independent and in harmony with nature. This book contains two important essays by Emerson: Nature and Self-Reliance. Nature outlines the foundation of transcendentalism, that reality can be understood by studying nature; self-reliance emphasizes the importance of individuality, that one should always believe in oneself.
