Louisa May Alcott: A Modern Biography

In some parts this can be a bit of a hard slog as the biographer tries to explain Louisa's father's theories and sometimes it almost feels like a biography of her father rather than of her (they died within two days of each other and were burried on the same day). Somewhat fitting as throughout her life Louisa tried desperately to please her father and fit into the mould he had created for her.

She had a varied life, surrounded at various stages by many of the literati of Maine society at the time, serving in a hospital during the US Civil War (and getting mercury poisoning which blighted her later life), success (though she was uncomfrortable with fame and fans) and trying to find a place for herself. She didn't always succeed as she show more had planned and I have to wonder what her life would have been like if she had lived in the 20th Century.

I found it fairly tough going occasionally, while interesting, though the author doesn't really introduce some of the sideline characters to this non-american so some of the comments about the disparity between their character and their works went over my head.

The cover I have is an older cover with a youngish Louisa May in a oval wtih her name curving around. show less

This is a fabulous biography of Louisa May Alcott and her family. As a previous reviewer noted much time is spent on Bronson and Abba May (her parents) before and after little Louisa arrives on the scene. I found myself thoroughly engrossed in this odd, dysfunctional family story. The Alcotts are NOT the picture perfect family of "Little Women" but the real story is far more interesting (albeit grim at times) with an equally 'colorful' cast of characters.
Also recommended: The Alcotts: A Biography of a Family by Bedell

2854 Louisa May: A Modern Biography of Louisa May Alcott, by Martha Saxton (read 25 Mar 1996) This is a 1977 biography. Alcott was born in Germantown, Pa., 29 Nov 1822 and died 6 March 1888 at Boston. Much of the book is devoted to her father and his ridiculous idiosyncrasies. He died two days before she did. I'm glad I read Little Women. (The author of this biography says "It is nearly un-American not to have read this monument to family life.") I, however, see no need to read any of her other books. This was a book well worth reading, and it is nice that Louisa May was comfortably well-fixed after 1869. She was sort of in love with Henry Thoreau, knew Ralph Waldo Emerson well, as well as Nathaniel Hawthorne. She spent a lot of time in show more Concord--an amazing place in the mid 19th century. show less