Louisa May Alcott: Life, Letters & Journals [Hardcover]

Louisa May Alcott (Author), Ednah D. Cheney (Compiler)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 26, 1995

Excerpts from Alcott's journals and letters, in which she ruminates on both her personal life and her literary career. Includes poetry, conversations with her sisters, and negotiations with editors. Alcott destroyed material she thought too personal in her journals and many of her letters, but sufficient content remains to show the talent and influences which produced some of America's favorite stories.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ednah Dow Cheney (1824-1904), who edited and annotated "Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and Journals," was a writer, reformer, philanthropist, abolitionist and champion of women's rights. She helped recruit Boston teachers for freedmen's schools in the South after the Civil War, was vice president of the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association, was vice president of the New England's Women's Club, and was secretary of the New England Hospital for Women and Children. Cheney lectured widely, including at the Concord School of Philosophy on the history of art.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Random House Value Publishing (September 26, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517124246
• ISBN-13: 978-0517124246
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,721,863 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable book for students of literature and writing!, October 4, 2005

By 

Book Lover - See all my reviews

This review is from: Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters and Journals (Paperback)

Louisa May Alcott, when speaking of herself, writes with humility and grace. Her words are always wise and quietly moving. Her story is rich and engaging. This is an awesome inside view to an amazing woman and author.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Look at a Fascinating Woman, October 13, 2006

By 

drebbles (Arlington, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters and Journals (Paperback)

Compiled and edited in 1889 by Ednah Cheney, this book offers an interesting look into the life of Louisa May Alcott. Cheney intersperses the letters and journal entries with some biographical information. The Alcotts were very poor and lived off the money Louisa made from her writing; Alcott keeps track of how much money she gets for each story, even after the success of "Little Women". Unfortunately, the amount of time she spent writing (up to 14 hours a day), plus the illness she caught after nursing civil war soldiers took a toll on her and many of her letters, plus many of the journal entries mention her various illnesses and describe how she had to take morphine to help her sleep.

Fans of "Little Women" will be most interested in the segments regarding that book and may be surprised to find out that Alcott thought the book was boring. It's hard to believe she really meant that because it's clear from her letters and journal entries how very biographical "Little Women" is. In fact, Alcott's journal description of Beth's death in real life is used almost word for word in the book. Other elements in "Little Women" are fiction (there was, alas, no real life Professor Bhaer and Alcott included him against her better judgement - she would have preferred Jo remain single, as Alcott herself did) and Teddy was based on a Polish acquaintance, not a next door neighbor. However, the four sisters are based on Louisa and her sisters and the journal entries and letters make you realize how perfectly she caught them on paper.

This is an interesting book about not only a fascinating woman but also a fascinating family. The Alcotts' friends included the Emersons, the Thoreaus and the Hawthornes, all whose influences helped shape Louisa May Alcott's writings. Despite her success, her life was not an easy one and was often filled with sorrow. Yet, despite her sorrow and illnesses, Louise May Alcott's works enchanted children then and now.