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Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888)

Author of Little Women

528+ Works 89,894 Members 1,212 Reviews 290 Favorited
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About the Author

Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1832. Two years later, she moved with her family to Boston and in 1840 to Concord, which was to remain her family home for the rest of her life. Her father, Bronson Alcott, was a transcendentalist and friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry show more David Thoreau. Alcott early realized that her father could not be counted on as sole support of his family, and so she sacrificed much of her own pleasure to earn money by sewing, teaching, and churning out potboilers. Her reputation was established with Hospital Sketches (1863), which was an account of her work as a volunteer nurse in Washington, D.C. Alcott's first works were written for children, including her best-known Little Women (1868--69) and Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys (1871). Moods (1864), a "passionate conflict," was written for adults. Alcott's writing eventually became the family's main source of income. Throughout her life, Alcott continued to produce highly popular and idealistic literature for children. An Old-Fashioned Girl (1870), Eight Cousins (1875), Rose in Bloom (1876), Under the Lilacs (1878), and Jack and Jill (1881) enjoyed wide popularity. At the same time, her adult fiction, such as the autobiographical novel Work: A Story of Experience (1873) and A Modern Mephistopheles (1877), a story based on the Faust legend, shows her deeper concern with such social issues as education, prison reform, and women's suffrage. She realistically depicts the problems of adolescents and working women, the difficulties of relationships between men and women, and the values of the single woman's life. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Courtesy of the NYPL Digital Gallery (image use requires permission from the New York Public Library)

Series

Works by Louisa May Alcott

Little Women (1868) 26,256 copies
Little Women / Good Wives (1869) 14,984 copies
Little Men (1871) 8,047 copies
Jo's Boys (1886) 4,883 copies
Eight Cousins (1875) 4,533 copies
An Old-Fashioned Girl (1870) 2,889 copies
Rose in Bloom (1876) 2,688 copies
Good Wives (1869) 2,291 copies
Under the Lilacs (1878) 1,882 copies
A Long Fatal Love Chase (1995) 1,740 copies
Jack and Jill (1880) 1,620 copies
The Inheritance (1850) 1,156 copies
Hospital Sketches (1863) 602 copies
Flower Fables (1854) 464 copies
Work: A Story of Experience (1873) 437 copies
Little Women (2012) 314 copies
A Garland for Girls (1887) 270 copies
A Modern Mephistopheles (1877) 250 copies
Moods (1865) 198 copies
The Quiet Little Woman (1999) 193 copies
Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag (1842) 147 copies
The Annotated Little Women (2015) 138 copies
A Modern Cinderella (1893) 106 copies
Works of Louisa May Alcott (1982) 85 copies
Spinning-Wheel Stories (1884) 58 copies
Little Men / Jo's Boys (1946) 56 copies
100 Eternal Masterpieces of Literature - volume 1 (2017) — Contributor — 56 copies
The Baron's Gloves (1868) 56 copies
Lulu's Library (1886) 51 copies
Marjorie's Three Gifts (1899) 49 copies
Aunt Jo's Scrap Bag, Vol. 2 (1872) 48 copies
A Whisper in the Dark (1863) 42 copies
Christmas with Little Women (1649) 40 copies
366 Goodnight Stories (1963) — Contributor — 36 copies
The Candy Country (1885) 34 copies
Aunt Jo's Scrap Bag, Vol. 1 (1872) 33 copies
May Flowers [short story] (1887) 30 copies
Trudel's Siege (1976) 30 copies
Little Women (Abridged) (1950) 28 copies
Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag, Vol. 6 (1882) 28 copies
Aunt Jo's Scrap Bag, Vol. 5 (1879) 26 copies
Little Women [abridged - Hear It Read It] (2008) — Author — 22 copies
Little Women [adapted - Reece] (1998) — Author — 16 copies
Mujercitas (1955) 14 copies
Silver Pitchers (1908) 14 copies
Los versos de la medusa (2019) 13 copies
Lulu's Library, Vol. 2 (1887) 13 copies
Un cuento de enfermera (2014) 12 copies
Scarlet Stockings (2004) 12 copies
Little Women [1994 film and novel boxed set] (2004) — Author — 12 copies
Little Women [adapted - Greenwood] (1992) — Author — 12 copies
Three Unpublished Poems (2012) 11 copies
Sisters: Vintage Minis (2017) 11 copies
Little Women Coloring Book (2013) 11 copies
Diana and Persis (1978) 10 copies
Lulu's Library, Vol. 3 (2012) 9 copies
Pansies and Water-Lilies (1902) 8 copies
Lulu's Library, Vol. 1 (2012) 8 copies
Best of Women's Short Stories, Volume 3 (2007) — Contributor — 7 copies
Perilous Play (2009) 6 copies
Little Men [1940 film] (1940) — Author — 4 copies
Good Wives (Abridged) (1971) 4 copies
Boas Esposas (2021) 4 copies
Louisa Alcott's people (1936) 4 copies
El fantasma de las niñas (1884) 3 copies
Cuatro damas del misterio (2019) 3 copies
On Picket Duty (2015) 3 copies
Blood & Thunder (2021) 3 copies
Aunt Kipp (2015) 3 copies
MUJERCITAS (2010) 3 copies
Sirenitas (2015) 2 copies
Iyi Esler (2009) 2 copies
Los Primos (1976) 2 copies
Something To Do (2010) 2 copies
Horrida (2020) 2 copies
Piccole donne (2012) 2 copies
Il fantasma dell'abate (2017) 2 copies
OCHO PRIMOS (2008) 2 copies
A free bed (1978) 2 copies
Rosa's Tale (2017) 2 copies
Psyche's Art (2015) 2 copies
I grandi romanzi (2016) 2 copies
DOLL'S (THE) JOURNEY (1902) 2 copies
Little Women: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (2012) — Author — 2 copies
Beginning Again/Work (1905) 2 copies
True Friends 1 copy
Little Women 1 copy
Kücük Kadinlar (2022) 1 copy
Nisa saghirat (2009) 1 copy
Death of a Soldier (2018) 1 copy
Piccoli uomini (1983) 1 copy
Los primos 1 copy
MUJERCITAS Resumen (2010) 1 copy
Rosa en Flor 1 copy
MUJERCITAS 1 copy
Little Women Gift Pack (2021) 1 copy
Three Proverb Stories (2021) 1 copy
Love and Self Love (2010) 1 copy
Malé ženy 1 copy
Malé ženy (2009) 1 copy
Il debutto di Debby (2017) 1 copy
The Death of John (2015) 1 copy
The Death Of A Soldier (2013) 1 copy
A Christmas Turkey (2017) 1 copy
The blind lark (2016) 1 copy
Four Stories 1 copy
How They Ran Away (2016) 1 copy
Classics for Christmas (2016) 1 copy
La Piccola Principessa (2007) 1 copy
My Red Cap (2015) 1 copy
Little Women [adapted - Sadler] — Author — 1 copy
An Hour 1 copy
Anos Felizes 1 copy
Aunt Jos Scrap-Bag (2014) 1 copy
Good Wives 1 copy
Småfrøkner 1 copy
MUJERCITAS (2019) B (2020) 1 copy

Associated Works

American Bloomsbury (2006) — Featured Artist — 651 copies
Little Women (Junior Classics for Young Readers) (1868) — Author — 614 copies
The Assassin's Cloak: An Anthology of the World's Greatest Diarists (2000) — Contributor, some editions — 550 copies
Little Women [1994 film] (1994) — Author — 472 copies
Penny Dreadfuls: Sensational Tales of Terror (1818) — Contributor — 455 copies
Great Short Stories by American Women (1996) — Contributor — 408 copies
The Fireside Book of Christmas Stories (1945) — Contributor — 280 copies
The Treasure Chest (1932) — Contributor — 258 copies
Little Women [2019 film] (2019) — Original book — 228 copies
The Best Christmas Stories Ever (Apple Classics) (1992) — Contributor — 185 copies
The Phantom of the Opera and Other Gothic Tales (2018) — Contributor — 177 copies
The Civil War: The Second Year Told By Those Who Lived It (2012) — Contributor — 172 copies
The Big Book of Classic Fantasy (2019) — Contributor — 166 copies
Little Women [novelization] (1994) 162 copies
Murder & Other Acts of Literature (1997) — Contributor — 147 copies
Life in the Iron Mills [Bedford Cultural Editions] (1997) — Contributor — 143 copies
A Literary Christmas: An Anthology (2013) — Contributor — 134 copies
Witches' Brew (2002) — Contributor — 126 copies
The Penguin Book of Women's Humour (1996) — Contributor — 117 copies
The Lifted Veil: Women's 19th Century Stories (2005) — Contributor — 113 copies
Into the Mummy's Tomb (2001) — Contributor — 111 copies
The Inheritance [1997 TV movie] (1997) — Author — 93 copies
The American Fantasy Tradition (2002) — Contributor — 89 copies
Told Under the Christmas Tree (1941) — Contributor — 81 copies
Little Women [adapted - Oxford Bookworms] (1990) — Author — 77 copies
Best in Children's Books 11 (1958) 74 copies
Little Women [1949 film] (1949) — Original novel — 69 copies
Little Women [1933 film] (1933) — Author — 59 copies
American Christmas Stories (2021) — Contributor — 59 copies
The Vintage Book of American Women Writers (2011) — Contributor — 56 copies
The Best American Mystery Stories of the 19th Century (2014) — Contributor — 49 copies
Revenge: Short Stories by Women Writers (1986) — Contributor — 49 copies
The Junior Classics Volume 06: Old-Fashioned Tales (1912) — Contributor — 47 copies
The Virago Book of Such Devoted Sisters (1993) — Contributor — 44 copies
Best Loved Short Stories of Nineteenth Century America (2003) — Contributor — 39 copies
An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving [2008 TV movie] (2008) — Author — 34 copies
Rediscoveries: American Short Stories by Women, 1832-1916 (1994) — Contributor — 32 copies
A Treasury of Old-Fashioned Christmas Stories (2006) — Contributor — 29 copies
American gothic : An anthology 1787–1916 (1999) — Contributor — 26 copies
Bronson Alcott's Fruitlands (1915) — Contributor — 23 copies
Open the Door (1965) — Contributor — 22 copies
Deadlier: 100 of the Best Crime Stories Written by Women (2017) — Contributor — 19 copies
Dracula's Brethren (2017) — Contributor — 17 copies
Little Women [2017 TV series] (2017) — Author — 17 copies
Penguin Christmas Classics (2016) 13 copies
Little Men [1998 film] (1998) — Author — 13 copies
Little Women [2018 movie] (2018) — Author — 12 copies
Little Women [1978 TV movie] (1978) — Author — 10 copies
More Favorite Stories of Christmas Past (v. 2) (2008) — Contributor — 6 copies
Ancient Egyptian Supernatural Tales (2016) — Contributor — 5 copies
Cricket Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 3, November 1974 (1974) — Contributor — 5 copies
Classic Women's Literature (2001) — Contributor — 5 copies
Little Women [1958 TV movie] — Author — 1 copy
Aquellas mujercitas (1974) 1 copy
Little Men [1934 film] (1934) — Author — 1 copy

Tagged

19th century (1,625) Alcott (491) American (686) American literature (1,280) anthology (480) children (652) children's (1,455) children's classics (229) children's fiction (434) children's literature (763) Christmas (456) Civil War (638) classic (3,137) classic literature (349) classics (3,411) coming of age (386) ebook (477) family (1,038) fiction (8,357) hardcover (356) historical (319) historical fiction (763) history (248) juvenile (294) Kindle (454) literature (1,181) Louisa May Alcott (571) New England (462) novel (786) own (384) read (738) romance (525) short stories (760) sisters (611) to-read (2,337) unread (286) USA (268) women (354) YA (470) young adult (838)

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Alcott, Louisa May
Other names
Barnard, A. M.
Birthdate
1832-11-29
Date of death
1888-03-06
Burial location
Authors' Ridge, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Massachusetts, USA
Gender
female
Nationality
USA
Birthplace
Germantown, Pennsylvania, USA
Place of death
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Cause of death
stroke
Places of residence
Germantown, Pennsylvania, USA
Concord, Massachusetts, USA
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Utopian Fruitlands Community, Harvard, Massachusetts, USA (1843-1844)
Education
homeschooled
Occupations
novelist
nurse
seamstress
teacher
governess
Relationships
Alcott, Amos Bronson (father)
Alcott, Abigail May (mother)
Organizations
Transcendentalism
Agent
Zachary Shuster Harmsworth (estate)
Short biography
Louisa May Alcott (November 29, 1832 – March 6, 1888) was an American novelist, short story writer and poet best known as the author of the novel Little Women (1868) and its sequels Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys (1886). Raised in New England by her transcendentalist parents, Abigail May and Amos Bronson Alcott, she grew up among many of the well-known intellectuals of the day, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Alcott's family suffered from financial difficulties, and while she worked to help support the family from an early age, she also sought an outlet in writing. She began to receive critical success for her writing in the 1860s. Early in her career, she sometimes used the pen name A. M. Barnard, under which she wrote novels for young adults that focused on spies and revenge.

Published in 1868, Little Women is set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts, and is loosely based on Alcott's childhood experiences with her three sisters, Abigail May Alcott Nieriker, Elizabeth Sewall Alcott, and Anna Alcott Pratt. The novel was well-received at the time and is still popular today among both children and adults. It has been adapted many times to the stage, film, and television.

Alcott was an abolitionist and a feminist and remained unmarried throughout her life. All her life she was active in such reform movements as temperance and women's suffrage. She died from a stroke, two days after her father died, in Boston on March 6, 1888.

Members

Discussions

Jo in Little Women in Geeks who love the Classics (September 2023)
Found: Help me please- Name that Book in Name that Book (March 2023)
Newbie question about series editing in Book talk (June 2018)
Louisa May Alcott in Tattered but still lovely (February 2018)
Alcott favorites? in Tattered but still lovely (November 2014)

Reviews

Ten years on the boys have grown up. What happened to them? We find that even the worst of them have some redeeming features.
 
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INeilC | 33 other reviews | Mar 10, 2024 |
An enjoyable second part to the story of the Little Women, taking up the story three years later, and relating their growing up. A rollicking good read which should be read by everyone - even if its status as a novel does not see it in the lists of so-called "best" literature.
 
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INeilC | 27 other reviews | Mar 10, 2024 |
The perfect read for all those who have only watched the movie.
 
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INeilC | 194 other reviews | Mar 10, 2024 |
 
Flagged
AnkaraLibrary | Feb 29, 2024 |

Lists

My TBR (1)
AP Lit (1)
1860s (1)
1970s (2)

Awards

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Statistics

Works
528
Also by
95
Members
89,894
Popularity
#111
Rating
3.9
Reviews
1,212
ISBNs
4,636
Languages
33
Favorited
290

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