Ralph Waldo Emerson was renowned during the mid 19th century as a philosopher, writer, public orator, naturalist and spiritual trailblazer. The essays collected for this podcast represent some of the best examples of this great American thinker's work. For more educational audio and video, please visit www.learnoutloud.com.

“I do not wish to treat friendships daintily but with roughest courage. When they are real, they are not glass beads or frost-work but the solidest thing we know....” is how Ralph Waldo Emerson saw the ties of friendship in one of his essays titled Friendship, more than a hundred years ago. This and other interesting essays are included in Essays First Series by Ralph Waldo Emerson, the distinguished American philosopher and writer. Apart from writing, he was also a very gifted and popular p ...