“One writer says that Brown's peculiar monomania made him to be ‘dreaded by the Missourians as a supernatural being.’ Sure enough, a hero in the midst of us cowards is always so dreaded. He is just that thing. He shows himself superior to nature. He has a spark of divinity in him. They talk as if it were impossible that a man could be ‘divinely appointed’ in these days to do any work whatever; as if vows and religion were out of date as connected with any man's daily work; as if the agent to abolish slavery could only be somebody appointed by the President, or by some political party. They talk as if a man's death were a failure, and his continued life, be it of whatever character, were a success.” —H.D. Thoreau, “A Plea For Captain John Brown,” 1859. Cabin is the new season from The Relentless Picnic. It's one story told over multiple episodes. It's a story about solitude and isolation, community and loss, Henry David Thoreau and Ted Kaczynski—and it's told through audio recorded throughout 2019 and 2020. New episodes weekly—or close to weekly. Support us at patreon.com/relentlesspicnic for access to a ton of bonus content. Our web site is relentlesspicnic.com SOURCES (Ep. 4): - “A Plea for Captain John Brown,” by H.D. Thoreau (1859): bit.ly/2CPiMHT ; - Walden; or, Life in the Woods, by H.D. Thoreau (1854): bit.ly/3jS0Woq ; - Videos and resources on John Brown, the raid on Harpers Ferry, and its aftermath: youtu.be/EG4ukrMtdNs , youtu.be/bB_kbFAui-U , youtu.be/LPyqE2zpQCg , youtu.be/Ax7KjLUOt8w , youtu.be/roNmeOOJCDY , youtu.be/q-E-ffXl2Uk , youtu.be/MILN_17KH6M , youtu.be/dmyswQs6_Bw . - Henry David Thoreau: A Life, by Laura Dassow Walls (2018): amzn.to/2B22qdw ; - “Civil Disobedience,” by H.D. Thoreau (1849): bit.ly/2OYTQjz ; - Westward, I Go Free: Tracing Thoreau’s Last Journey, by Corinne Smith: amzn.to/2OUyYKi ; corinnehsmith.com ; thoreausociety.org ; - Thoreau’s letter to Parker Pillsbury, April 10 1861: bit.ly/2WVVdEg [“Blessed are they who never read a newspaper, for they shall see Nature, and through her, God. But alas I have heard of Sumpter, & Pickens, & even of Buchanan, (though I did not read his message)”] ; - Thoreau’s journals, 1860-61: bit.ly/2WXHUmI ; - “The Wreckage,” The Relentless Picnic, ep. 27: bit.ly/2By6Md7 ; - Joanna Newsom, “Does Not Suffice” (youtu.be/FkjkT-ohCpQ) & “Good Intentions Paving Company” (youtu.be/KCCl3nzL5PI) ; - Don DeLillo, Mao II (1991): amzn.to/30VqmJc ; - The Unabomber In His Own Words (2018), documentary on Netflix: bit.ly/2DbHkuh ; - season photo: "Untitled #2214" by Todd Hido, 1998.