Wildness: Henry David Thoreau and the Making of an American Theology by Lydia Willsky-Ciollo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher — University of Notre Dame Press

Release Date: March 1, 2026

Willsky-Ciollo argues in this book that Thoreau built a uniquely American theology with nature at its core, a theology that didn’t just draw on Greco-Roman philosophy and Abrahamic religion (as other schools of thought have) but also on Indian ideas of both the South Asian and Native American varieties. (The book speaks more extensively to the latter.)

For a scholarly work, this book is readable and doesn’t require jargon proficiency or any special academic background. I can’t say I found it compelling to think of Thoreau’s teachings as a theology (rather than a philosophy, or a strain of Transcendentalism.) That said, to someone outside the field, I don’t think that is a particularly interesting question, given that scholarly disciplines are inherently subjectively defined and prone to mutability. What’s more important to me is that I did gain numerous insights from this book, particularly regarding Thoreau’s unfinished final work Wild Fruits (which is discussed in some detail,) and Thoreau’s views on American Indians and their influence on his worldview.

If you’re interested in Thoreau, and looking for some insight that one might not gain from reading his most well-known works, this is a book well worth reading.

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