Louisa May Alcott

The Woman Behind Little Women

Harriet Reisen

Picador

Download Image Harriet Reisen Louisa May Alcott
Buy it now

Available Formats

BookeBook

In a fresh, modern take on the remarkable Louisa May Alcott, Harriet Reisen’s vivid biography explores the author’s life in the context of her works, many of which are to some extent autobiographical. Although Alcott secretly wrote pulp fiction, harbored radical abolitionist views, and served as a Civil War nurse, her novels went on to sell more copies than those of Herman Melville and Henry James. Stories and details culled from Alcott’s journals, together with revealing letters to family, friends, and publishers, plus recollections of her famous contemporaries provide the basis for this lively account of the author’s classic rags-to-riches tale. In Louisa May Alcott, the extraordinary woman behind the beloved American classic Little Women is revealed as never before.

Connect with the Author

Sign Up for
Author Updates

Macmillan Newsletter

Sign up to receive information about new books, author events, and special offers.

Sign up now

Book Excerpts

Read an Excerpt

FROM CHAPTER ELEVEN: I’ve Often Longed to See a War

By 1862, as she approached her thirtieth birthday Louisa was restless, and hungry for adventure before it was too late. “Decided to go to Washington as a nurse if I could find a place,” she wrote in her journal for November. “I love nursing and must let out my pent-up energy in some new way.”

Thirty was the minimum age for being an army nurse. Dorothea Dix, the superintendent of the Union army nursing corps, had also stipulated that volunteers be “plain looking” and married.

Read the full excerpt

Listen to an Excerpt from the Audiobook

Loading the player ...

Related

Back

Media

Watch and Listen

5 Things You Didn't Know about Louisa May Alcott

5 Things You Didn't Know about Louisa May Alcott

Share This

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind 'Little Women' preview

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind 'Little Women' preview

Share This

Harriet Reisen discusses her book Louisa May Alcott

Hear biographer Harriet Reisen talk about Louisa May Alcott. Reisen is the author of Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women, a fresh, vivid biography that explores the author’s life in the context of her works The extraordinary woman behind Little Women is revealed as never before.

Share This
Back

Reviews

Praise for Louisa May Alcott

“At last, Louisa May Alcott has the biography that admirers of Little Women might have hoped for.” —The Wall Street Journal's Best 10 Books of the Year

“A magnificent new biography . . . a classic.” —The Washington Times

“Fans will adore Harriet Reisen's sympathetic biography. . . .With charming verve, she details Alcott's remarkable if difficult life.” —USA Today
 
“Superb . . . punctuates the myths of the Alcott family, rendering Louisa May with nuance.” —Chicago Tribune
 
“A biography as vibrant as its subject.” —Vogue

“Reisen’s lifelong fascination with Little Women and the woman who wrote it has produced an absorbing narrative, in many ways the best ever, of Alcott’s own life. . . . The utterly compelling force of Alcott’s personality has never been better described. I found the book compulsively readable; I couldn’t put it down.” —Robert Richardson, author of Emerson: The Mind on Fire and Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind

“Brilliantly researched. . . . Her biography will occupy an essential place on any Alcott bookshelf.” —John Matteson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father

“A beautifully written, significant, and fascinating work. Harriet Reisen does with this biography what Alcott did with her writing—gives us a memorable and inspiring gift full of humanity, heart, and soul.” —Winona Ryder, producer and star of Little Women (1994)

Reviews from Goodreads

Back

About the Author

Harriet Reisen

Harriet Reisen has written dramatic and historical scripts for PBS and HBO, including a recent PBS documentary on Louisa May Alcott. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and son.

Harriet Reisen

©Liane Brandon
Back

Reading Guide

Organizing a Reading Group

1

Get the Guide

Download PDF
2

Tell Your Friends

Share
3

Find More Books

Go to Website
4

Stay Updated

Sign Up
Back

Buy the Book

Available Formats and Book Details

Louisa May Alcott
The Woman Behind Little Women
Harriet Reisen

Trade Paperback

Trade Paperback
Picador
October 2010
Trade Paperback
ISBN: 9780312658878
ISBN10: 0312658877
5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches, 464 pages
$16.00
Buy

Hardcover

Learn more about this edition
Hardcover
Henry Holt and Co.
October 2009
Hardcover
ISBN: 9780805082999
ISBN10: 0805082999
6 1/8 x 9 1/4 inches, 384 pages
$26.00
Buy

e-Book Agency

Learn more about this edition
e-Book Agency
Henry Holt and Co.
October 2009
e-Book Agency
ISBN: 9781429928816
ISBN10: 1429928816
384 pages
$9.99
Books for Courses Available
Back

From The Publisher

Picador

Latest on Facebook

Latest on Twitter

Back

{ About }

{ Services }

{ Store }

{ Publishers }

Education

Children's

© 2011 Macmillan