Phoenix Classics Classics is the reference in classical works. All our works are of good quality and contain an active table of contents (HTML), which will make it easier for you to read. Walden (also known as Life in the Woods) by Henry David Thoreau is one of the best-known non-fiction books written by an American. Published in 1854, it details Thoreau's life for two years and two months in second-growth forest around the shores of Walden Pond, not far from his friends and family in Concord, ...