Thoreau's work is now available around the world. It has been translated into Dutch, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese, among other languages. It is much read and respected in Japan, which has its own Thoreau Society. The influence of Thoreau's work was expressed in Holland in the 1897 founding of the utopian community "Walden" and in Russia in the interest of Tolstoy and Chekov.
In "Civil Disobedience," Thoreau presented his ideas about the individual's responsibilities in relation to government. In the twentieth century, this work powerfully affected Mohandas Gandhi, who applied the principle of nonviolent resistance in the struggle for independence in India, and Dr. Martin Luther King, in his leadership of the American civil rights movement. If Thoreau could have foreseen the importance that his work would take on after his death, he probably would have been amazed at the size and range of his future audience. He might not have thought much of intensive scholarly dissection of his life and his writings. But he would likely have taken satisfaction in the translation of his ideals and ideas into constructive individual action.
