Henry David Thoreau’s essay "Civil Disobedience" was first delivered as a lecture in 1848 in support of the antislavery cause. However, it wasn’t until the twentieth century that Thoreau came to be valued for his political ideas. "Civil Disobedience" was a key text for Gandhi and Martin Luther King, and influenced student radicalism in the 1960s. Much contemporary political thinking (distrust of the power of the state, direct action versus the ballot box; the anti-globalisation movement) is addressed by Thoreau’s ideas on the importance of individuals, informed dissent, and non-violent resistance. Manifesto Words that Changed the World offers extensive quotes from the essay, while a commentary by Andrew Kirk examines its historical context and world-wide repercussions.