Louis,,a May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathanierl Hawwthorne, Henry Thoreau,
Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work

This is an entertaining introduction to the Transcendentalists, the group of American writers and thinkers that gathered around Concord, Massachusetts in the nineteenth century. Cheever does this by alternating thematic biographical sketches to which she adds her critical comments. The time line of these sketches see-saws back and forth as she concentrates on one person and a theme and then goes back to pick up another’s story. She begins with the architect of the group, Ralph Waldo Emerson, a man who grew up in less than genteel circumstances, married well, was bereaved early, and then determinedly used the wealth inherited from his first wife to draw together a Lyceum in rural Massachusetts, connected to but physically removed from the bustle of literary life in Boston and New York. As Cheever puts it, “Emerson wrote some wonderful lines, and some true biographical portraits, but it is as the sugar daddy of American literature that he really takes his place in the pantheon of Concord writers.” (page 38)

The naturalist and Emerson’s sometime handyman Henry David Thoreau was already a resident of Concord. But Emerson made the necessary connections and put up the money to draw there the radical educators Margaret Fuller and Bronson Alcott and Alcott’s family. He charmed the aloof author Nathaniel Hawthorne away from Salem. He also arranged for members of his circle to meet New York authors like Walt Whitman and Herman Melville. It was quite an intellectual hot house, and Cheever spends the time to concentrate on the interactions and relationships between her central characters; it makes very lively reading. ( )

Several reviewers haven't thought much of this book, and I'd agree that the writing is rather pedestrian, but how cool that Hawthorne moped around after Margaret Fuller, she of the beautiful dark hair and the bold, free-thinking approach to life. How very like Hester Prynne. My students in junior English found the whole episode pretty intriguing since they usually assume anyone born in the dark ages of the nineteenth century to be prim, proper, and very well-behaved. ( )

This amazing bunch of neighbors and authors have long held my personal interest and attention. Through their journals, novels and writings they have allowed their readers access to private thoughts and beliefs and I was excited to see someone had taken on the task of exploring them as a group. Susan Cheever's has done an excellent job and her honest affection and curiosity is evident from beginning to end. An importan part of American and literary history is conveyed in a readable, enjoyable manner. ( )

A rather ho-hum account of the community surrounding Emerson that included Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts, with guest appearances by Melville, Whitman, and Franklin Pierce. It may be that Cheever just took on too much in trying to tackle all of these eminent writers in one book. She jumps from year to year, person to person, place to place. It's not difficult to keep focused, but the end result, for me, was a book that stayed on the surface. I really learned nothing I didn't already know--and I'm no expert in the transcendentalists. And I don't feel that I got a very good sense of time and place here either.

(P.S. It's NOT a novel, as another reviewer called it.) ( )