Ben Shattuck: Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreaux

Intimate, entertaining, and beautifully crafted, Six Walks is a resounding tribute to the ways walking in nature can inspire us all.

On an autumn morning in 1849, Henry David Thoreau stepped out his front door to walk the beaches of Cape Cod. Over a century and a half later, Ben Shattuck does the same. With little more than a loaf of bread, brick of cheese, and a notebook, Shattuck sets out to retrace Thoreau’s path through the Cape’s outer beaches, from the elbow to Provincetown’s fingertip. This is the first of six journeys taken by Shattuck, each one inspired by a walk once taken by Thoreau. After the Cape, Shattuck goes up Mount Katahdin and Mount Wachusett, down the coastline of his hometown, and then through the Allagash. Along the way, Shattuck encounteres unexpected characters, landscapes, and stories, seeing for himself the restorative effects that walking can have on a dampened spirit. Over years of following Thoreau, Shattuck finds himself uncovering new insights about family, love, friendship, and fatherhood, and understanding more deeply the lessons walking can offer through life’s changing seasons.

About the Author:

Ben Shattuck is the author of the short story collections The History of Sound (Viking). His books received acclaim from the New Yorker, NPR, Kirkus Reviews, and the Wall Street Journal. He has been the recipient of the New York Times Best Book of Summer, a New England Indie Bestseller, and was nominated for the Pen/Faulkner Award, a Pushcart Prize, and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he lives with his wife and daughter on the coast of Massachusetts, where he owns and runs the oldest general store in America, built in 1793. He is also the director and founder of the Cuttyhunk Island Writers’ Residency.