Alcott in Her Own Time: A Biographical Chronicle of Her Life, Drawn from Recollections, Interviews, and Memoirs by Family, Friends, and Associates (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780877459385)

By 1888, twenty years after the publication of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) was one of the most popular and successful authors America had yet produced. In her pre-Little Women days, she concocted blood-and-thunder tales for low wages; post-Little Women, she specialized in domestic novels and short stories for children. Collected here for the first time are the reminiscences of people who knew her, the majority of which have not been published since their original appearance in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Many of the printed recollections in this book appeared after Alcott became famous and showcase her as a literary lion, but others focus on her teen years, when she was living the life of Jo March; these intimate glimpses into the life of the Alcott family lead the reader to one conclusion: the family was happy, fun, and entertaining, very much like the fictional Marches. The recollections about an older and wealthier Alcott show a kind and generous, albeit outspoken, woman little changed by her money and status. Pratt's recollections of the Alcott sisters' acting days to Julian Hawthorne's neighborly portrait of the Alcotts, the thirty-six recollections in this copiously illustrated volume tell the private and public story of a remarkable life.

Author: Daniel Shealy
ISBN-10: 087745938X
ISBN-13: 9780877459385
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
Language: English
Published: 06/15/2005
Pages: 304
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.92lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.30w x 0.72d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 04/25/2005 pg. 47
Library Journal 05/15/2005 pg. 117