Wild Apples is a short treatise by Thoreau on the origin, lore, characteristics, and charisma of the apple. He brings us along walking in the crisp autumn air as he tastes wild apples, and admires the tenacity of the trees that bore them. The book is comprised of nine essays:
The History of the Apple Tree
The Wild Apple
The Crab
How the Wild Apple Grows
The Fruit and its Flavor
Their Beauty
The Naming of Them
The Last Gleaning
The "Frozen-Thawed" Apple.
Following Thoreau's words is a short biography written by Ralph Waldo Emerson which provides a poignant look into the man from the perspective of his close friend and mentor.
This book is accented with over ninety photographs of wild apples found growing at the edges of fields or in amongst the woods of Northern Maine.