Civil Disobedience

The Essay That Inspired Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

De: Henry David Thoreau

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

The text that inspired Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and movements of peaceful resistance around the world—now in a new accessible edition with introduction and notes by Henry Bugalho.

In 1849, Henry David Thoreau published one of the most influential essays in the history of political thought. Jailed for refusing to pay taxes that would finance the war against Mexico and the maintenance of slavery, Thoreau transformed his night in prison into a devastating reflection on the limits of obedience to the State.

When the law is unjust, to obey is to collaborate with injustice.

Civil Disobedience is not an abstract treatise: it is a call to action. Thoreau argues that the citizen has not only the right but the duty to resist a government that practices injustice. His thesis is simple and radical: individual conscience is superior to law; the just man must be willing to be a minority of one—and that minority is already irresistible when it acts according to its principles.

In this edition:

• Complete translation of the original essay
• Critical introduction by Henry Bugalho contextualizing the work and its reception
• Explanatory notes clarifying historical and philosophical references
• Fluent and accessible text, faithful to the rhetorical vigor of the original

Why read Thoreau today?

In a world of political polarization, state surveillance, climate crisis, and democratic erosion, Thoreau's questions remain urgent: How far does our individual responsibility extend in the face of unjust systems? Does paying taxes make us complicit? Is democracy the end of history or merely another stage? What does it truly mean to be free?

This small book changed history. Gandhi read it in a South African prison and developed from it the philosophy of satyagraha. Martin Luther King Jr. found in it the theoretical foundation for the nonviolent resistance of the civil rights movement. Tolstoy recommended it. Environmental, pacifist, and human rights movements continue to draw from its wellspring.

About this edition

This edition offers a careful translation that preserves Thoreau's argumentative force and singular style—his cutting irony, his precise metaphors, his orator's rhythm—while making the text fully accessible to today's reader.

Henry Bugalho is a writer, philosopher, and translator, with a master's degree in Rhetoric and Oratory, author of more than thirty books and translator of classics of philosophy and literature.

"That government is best which governs not at all."

"Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison." — Henry David Thoreau

Essential reading for students of philosophy, political science, law, and history—and for every citizen who asks what it means to live with integrity in an imperfect world.