Civil War Hospital Sketches [Paperback]

Louisa May Alcott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 10, 2006 | Series: Civil War

Before Little Women brought her wider fame, Alcott achieved recognition for her accounts of her work as a volunteer nurse in an army hospital. Written during the winter of 1862-63, her lively dispatches revealed the desperate realities of battlefield medicine as well as the tentative first steps of women in military service.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (February 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486449009
• ISBN-13: 978-0486449005
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.2 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #150,313 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > History > Americas > United States > Civil War > Women

More About the Author

Louisa May Alcott was both an abolitionist and a feminist. She is best known for Little Women (1868), a semi-autobiographical account of her childhood years with her sisters in Concord, Massachusetts. Alcott, unlike Jo, never married: "... because I have fallen in love with so many pretty girls and never once the least bit with any man." She was an advocate of women's suffrage and was the first woman to register to vote in Concord, Massachusetts.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars No question this is Louisa May Alcott June 10, 2010

By M. Heiss

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

These are dispatches home from Jo -- no doubt about who could have written these.

They are interesting in the sense of a young person's first impressions of illness, injury, death, and war. Not to mention, life in the south through the eyes of a Bostoner. Very few letters -- she didn't last long before a fever got her -- but very interesting. The gentlemanly behavior described, the ladylike behavior -- all of it in Jo's style of writing. Great!

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Civil War Hospital Sketches March 7, 2006

By Renee Lamb

Format:Paperback

This book was short and gave some insight, but was a little disappointing since I had just finished reading Civil War Nurse: The Diary and Letters of Hannah Ropes. Both Louisa May Alcott and Hannah Ropes were assigned to the same hospital. Hannah Ropes' book is more in depth with the day-to-day details and her feelings than Hospital Sketches. Louisa May Alcott's book makes you think it was written specifically for a certain reading audience in mind and was found lacking in some respects.

(signed LAS)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous short read! February 5, 2013

By Mary Z Kohak

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

As a nurse and a lover of history, I can't recommend this highly enough. It is so interesting to read of nursing during the civil war. It is fascinating to meet a side of Ms Alcott than one encounters in her other books.As a gift, it also delighted my elderly father and a European friend who is studying American literature.