Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women

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Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women

3.81 of 5 stars 3.81 · rating details · 674 ratings · 210 reviews

A vivid, energetic account of the life of Louisa May Alcott, whose work has delighted millions of readers

Louisa May Alcott portrays a writer as worthy of interest in her own right as her most famous character, Jo March, and addresses all aspects of Alcott’s life: the effect of her father’s self-indulgent utopian schemes; her family’s chronic economic difficulties and frequ...more

Hardcover, 363 pages

Published October 27th 2009 by Henry Holt and Co.

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Nov 03, 2010 Barbara rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: first-reads-favorites, biography, new-england, read-in-2010, gardens, history, non-fiction, social-issues, writers-and-writing, poetry, reviewed

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Woman is a very detailed biography of Louisa May Alcott, in addition to a history of an incredibly interesting time in America.

While reading this book I felt as though I was transported back to the New England of the 19th Century. Harriet Reisen's descriptions of LMA, her parents, sisters, and many of their relatives and friends were just fascinating, especially the Alcott family's involvement in the Transcendentalist Movement and abolitionism. Louisa a...more

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Nov 21, 2010 Suzanne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: goodreads-first-reads

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women is a lovingly crafted, meticulously researched biography by Harriett Reisen. I received my copy from a GoodReads First Reads drawing. As a Little Women fan from childhood, I was thrilled to receive the book and was not disappointed. I learned a great deal about Louisa and was surprised to find that much of Little Women was taken from people and experiences in her own life, although highly idealized. My only complaint with this book is that it dwel...more

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Jan 05, 2013 Louise rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, alcott, writers

Harriet Reisin gives a new rendering of the life of the writer/creator of my most beloved childhood stories. Reisin's book compares favorably with the Pulitzer Prize winning "Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father" in that it has more information and therefore provides a more complete picture.

For most bios, a childhood is told in 20-30 pages. Not so, here. Louisa's childhood covers almost 1/3 of the book. Bronson Alcott has been treated well in other accounts, but here yo...more Harriet Reisin gives a new rendering of the life of the writer/creator of my most beloved childhood stories. Reisin's book compares favorably with the Pulitzer Prize winning "Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father" in that it has more information and therefore provides a more complete picture.

For most bios, a childhood is told in 20-30 pages. Not so, here. Louisa's childhood covers almost 1/3 of the book. Bronson Alcott has been treated well in other accounts, but here you can't help but loathe how his irresponsibility affected his family. The continual poverty, sometimes only apples and bread to eat, is hard to bear. Bronson teaches his family humility, charity, patience, self denial, and it's hard not to see that how manipulative this is in deflecting blame from himself. Bronson has carpentry skills, he's building desks and sheds, he didn't need to be a penniless philosopher.

There is more in this book on Abby May Alcott, who is merely cooking cleaning and mothering in other bios. Reisin gives her life. She shows her influence on Louisa and their character similarities. The reader aches as she travels hat in hand to "borrow" from her relatives and how she suffered for her husband's vocational choices. At Fruitlands, Mrs. A almost leaves Mr. A when she suspects an unconventional relationship with Charles Lane which introduces another previously buried dimension to the Alcott saga.

Reisin brings in new forensic discoveries relating to Louisa's illness, previously thought to stem from the mercury treatment she received as a Civil War nurse. Reisin also has more on what has become of the Alcott Family, that is Amy/May's daughter and Meg/Ann's sons.

If you are looking for a bio of Louisa May Alcott either this or Eden's Outcasts are good choices. The Reisin volume, while lacking photos, is more complete in more areas than those mentioned above and shows how the events and people in the LMA's life influenced her plots, themes and characters. While not as complete, I remember Eden's Outcasts as a page turner, which the Reisin book is not. (less)

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Sep 12, 2011 Jael rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, biography, america, history, nonfiction, authors

This was a well-written biography and I enjoyed it. I've always admired Alcott's books (at least her children's ones - I am not interested in the pulp fiction she did), but didn't know a whole lot about her life, so I learned a lot.

There were a few statements I took issue with, and they may well be the result of poor proofreading, but for someone who appears to be as obsessed with Alcott as the author claims to be, I found it ridiculous that she made the three following erroneous remarks, all ab...more

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Jun 21, 2011 Corinne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Talk about someone who lived an amazing life. I'm not usually a biography reader, but something about Louisa and the world she grew up in intrigued me - and rightly so. This very readable book tells Louisa's story from beginning to end, weaving in her writings as well as pertinent historical information that fleshes out the scene of her days.

Growing up with Emerson and Thoreau as surrogate uncles, the Concord and Boston of Louisa's day is the stuff of legend. What I really enjoyed about this boo...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 30, 2010 Ann rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is an engaging, easy to read book about Louisa May Alcott. I am not in a position to judge the author's scholarship, but I found it a fascinating entry into the world of not only the Transcendentalists but also Boston's upper crust in the 19th century.

I have two critiques of the book.

1. No pictures ! Not a single photograph, portrait, reproduction of a letter, nothing! Would it have been so hard to add a copy of George Healy's famous portrait of LMA? There is a reference to this portrait a...more

3 likes · like · see review

Dec 11, 2010 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, non-fiction

I only knew a little bit about Louisa May Alcott from the tour I got at the Orchard House in Concord, MA. They told some of the harder truths about her life but it was somewhat romanticized.

The first part of this book focuses on her childhood and early adult life. It is extremely interesting. It gets a little boring in the middle. (I found it to be a rather dry recording of her literary accomplishments. She was so prolific and trying so hard to earn a living, she didn't have time for much else!...more

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Dec 01, 2010 The Library Lady rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-biography

Reisen seems to believe that she has something new to say about Alcott, but aside from a few quotes I haven't read before, there is little her that hasn't been told and told more movingly by other Alcott biographers of recent times.
Moreover, if Reisen did so much research for the excellent documentary she did for American Masters and for this book, why does she make so many niggling errors about the books.Here are three whoppers:

1)In "Little Men" she says that JO has twins,Daisy and Demi who are...more

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Jul 22, 2010 ICPL Staff Picks added it

Shelves: anne, biographies, nonfiction, staff-picks-blog

Louisa May Alcott grew up surrounded by some of the most influential people in American philosophy and literature, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Elizabeth Peabody, and of course, her father Bronson Alcott. Her mother, Abby May Alcott, of a prominent Bostonian family, worked for emancipation, woman’s suffrage, and other social reforms. Even though she is surrounded by great minds and rich cousins, Louisa grew up in a family with a pretty dire financial situation. Her father...more

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Jul 19, 2010 Kimberly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Harriet Reisen has written an excellent biography that was on Wall Street Journal's Ten Best Books of 2009. Louisa May Alcott was part of the American Bloomsbury group that included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller and Nathaniel Hawthorne. She also grew up knowing Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes (what is it with these middle names?), and Henry James and other famous writers, poets, and artists.

Louisa was tremendously loyal to her family working hard to...more

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May 25, 2010 Laurel Bradshaw rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography

Loved it! Learned a lot. Laughed a lot.

Book description from Amazon:
A vivid, energetic account of the life of Louisa May Alcott, whose work has delighted millions of readers

Louisa May Alcott portrays a writer as worthy of interest in her own right as her most famous character, Jo March, and addresses all aspects of Alcott’s life: the effect of her father’s self-indulgent utopian schemes; her family’s chronic economic difficulties and frequent uprootings; her experience as a nurse in the Civil Wa...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 12, 2010 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

While I enjoyed this look into Louisa May Alcott's life and found the book very readable, I wanted more from the author. She makes conclusions and provides a sentence or two quoting a journal as support. That didn't do it for me, there was a little too much reading into things without giving the reader the information. (Yes, there are pages and pages of notes in the back, but there was almost too much to really look through and find the page/section you were referencing.) She did let you know wh...more

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Apr 12, 2010 Leeanna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women, by Harriet Reisen

"Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women" is a fascinating biography into the life of the author of the classic "Little Women," and also an in-depth look at her family. Reisen provides an extremely complete picture of Louisa's unusual childhood, and how it influenced her later publications.

The beginning of the book focuses on her father, Bronson Alcott, an unusual man for his time; he was one of the early Transcendental...more Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women, by Harriet Reisen

"Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women" is a fascinating biography into the life of the author of the classic "Little Women," and also an in-depth look at her family. Reisen provides an extremely complete picture of Louisa's unusual childhood, and how it influenced her later publications.

The beginning of the book focuses on her father, Bronson Alcott, an unusual man for his time; he was one of the early Transcendentalists, and counted Emerson and Thoreau among his friends. Bronson focused on philosophy, experimental teaching, and lecturing rather than supporting his family; the Alcotts moved over twenty times while Louisa was a child. Often a wild, unruly child, Louisa had a rocky relationship with her father, but was a mini clone of her mother. It was Abby Alcott, Louisa's mother, who encouraged her to write as a way to express her feelings.

Well aware of her family's financial troubles as a child, Louisa's goal as an adult was to fully support her family, while trying to have a measure of independence for herself. Her start in writing came after publishing a book of children's stories, and indeed, her most successful novels would be written for youngsters. But Reisen explains to readers that Louisa wrote thrillers under pseudonyms, and they were rather popular - and likely her preferred format. Louisa would strive all of her adult life to write one great novel that she could be proud of, and never thought "Little Women" was that book, even though it was her biggest cashcow. And with Louisa's drive to earn earn earn, money was often the deciding factor in what she wrote.

Louisa is a tragic figure: she spent her entire life being pushed one way or another, feeling obligated to help family and friends at the expense of her own personal life. She literally wore herself out and died at the relatively young age of 55. She took care of her sisters, mother, father, and friends; and even when she was fully supported by her writing, she never really got to enjoy the fruit of her labor.

Reisen paints an interesting and educational picture of Louisa's life. While remembered mainly for "Little Women," Louisa was so much more than just a children's author. She was a feminist, an abolitionist, a poet, a Civil War nurse, philanthropist, and so on. I learned so much while reading this book, and not just about Louisa, but also about the Transcendentalists and the Civil War era. And while it could be easy to fall into hero worship, Reisen is careful to point out the flaws in Louisa's character, penning a realistic image.

The biography starts out a little slow, but if you give it a chance for a few chapters, I think you'll be pulled into a wonderful tale. Reisen makes use of abundant source material, including many quotes from Louisa's journals and poetry, but weaves them seamlessly into the narrative. I learned a lot, and had an enjoyable time doing so.

4/5.(less)

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Feb 08, 2010 Shannon rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm not much for biographies, but Louisa May Alcott is special. I remember watching "Little Women" with my mother, grandmother, and aunt when I was a young girl, the version with June Allyson as Jo. I loved it. Not much later, I read the book, as well as reading Little Men. Again, loved them. So when this book was mentioned in "Library Journal" I immediately requested it from the library and read it in a weekend.

Harried Reisen has done years of research on Alcott and her family, and it definitel...more

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Feb 04, 2010 Nell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: bigraphy-and-memoir

Before reading this biography, I had no idea about Alcott’s background and how much she based her writings on her own life, or that those writings included novels and stories for adults and pulp fiction as well as her better-known children’s works. Not surprisingly, she was an imaginative, competitive, energetic, adventurous (even wild) tomboy—the Jo of Little Women. Her parents were loving, but her idealistic father could not support his wife and four daughters, and they often went hungry. Yet...more

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Dec 22, 2009 Debbie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, memoir, non-fiction

This biography of Louisa May Alcott was a well-written, enjoyable read. Harriet Reisen gave a chronological account of the Alcott's lives while relating how the national events of the time effected them and how they influenced history (through their Transcendental movement, abolition movement, etc.). She also worked in many quotes taken from letters and the personal journals kept by each member of the family.

The first 87 pages were mainly about Louisa's parents (Abby and Bronson) and their frien...more

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May 06, 2010 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biographical, non-fiction, 2010

When I was about ten, my grandmother sent me a copy of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. The next year, my mom bought me a copy of Eight Cousins, or The Aunt Hill, followed by a mission to the library to find its sequel, Rose in Bloom. All three of those books were certainly fun to read (Rose Campbell's stories), and very moving (Little Women, but it wasn't until a few years later that I became very interested in Louisa May Alcott as an author. That was when I received a copy of A Marble Woman:...more When I was about ten, my grandmother sent me a copy of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. The next year, my mom bought me a copy of Eight Cousins, or The Aunt Hill, followed by a mission to the library to find its sequel, Rose in Bloom. All three of those books were certainly fun to read (Rose Campbell's stories), and very moving (Little Women, but it wasn't until a few years later that I became very interested in Louisa May Alcott as an author. That was when I received a copy of A Marble Woman: Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott from the same grandmother who sent me the first of my forays into Alcott.

I'm pretty sure she picked it up, saw the author, and sent it without reading it herself. Which is a shame, because while Jo March's dramas as described in Little Women are quite impressive, there's nothing like a deceptive ballerina scheming herself towards a fortune, or a treacherous guardian after his young ward's fortune, not to mention the story the title is taken from, in which a guardian marries his ward, and sculpts her into the shape of a perfect wife. These psychological thrillers were to me far more interesting than the works Alcott was best known for. It's strange then that I never took any time to really look into the life of Louisa May Alcott.

Harriet Reisen has, though, in Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women, a comprehensive, well-researched account of Louisa's life from her vegetarian father Bronson, to her artist sister May (or 'Amy' as we may know her from Little Women). I had thought that the big surprise would be Louisa's secret career as a pulp fiction writer, but she was so much more. Louisa was, among other things, an early abolitionist, a woman's suffragist, a Civil War nurse, a second girl (the lowest of the servants in a household), an independent single woman, and the benefactress of her entire family. She was surrounded by literary figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Nathaniel Hawthorne growing up. As a member of a poor family growing up (from the sounds of it, destitute might have been a more accurate description at times) Louisa dreamed of riches, and was able to achieve this through her writing.

Reisen's own writing is very successful. She tells Louisa's story in a manner that any fan of Little Women will feel quite comfortable with. Her deviations into the lives of the other Alcotts are interesting, and add to the narrative. Reisen's book spends a lot of time looking at the effects of Louisa's life in her writing, which can be a slippery proposition in some cases, but seems entirely justified, and very useful under these circumstances (especially since much of Louisa's output came about in the form of slightly fictionalized accounts of her travels and her time as a Civil War nurse). The only thing I could have wished for with this book would be a few pictures, especially those described by Reisen, to have been included somewhere. That's probably just the art history major in me, though.(less)

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Nov 17, 2009 Lydia Presley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, non-fiction

When I was around 10 years old, I read Little Women. How many times have you heard a grown woman say something similar to this? Maybe the age wasn't the same, but nearly every woman I know has read Little Women at some point in their life. Nowadays it's very possible they've seen the movie too, you know.. the one with Wynona Rider as Jo? I loved that movie as well!

I remember falling in love with Laurie and feeling so much frustration that Jo wouldn't just give him a chance! I mean, I understood,...more

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Jul 26, 2011 Christina Mortellaro rated it 5 of 5 stars

I fell in love with Little Women when I was nine years old. I continued to read it once a year until I hit high school. I never wanted to read any of the other books by Louisa May Alcott because I feared they wouldn't be as good or as memorable as Little Women. One day I picked up the newspaper and saw a review for this biography on Louisa May Alcott and I knew I had to read it.

It was definitely well worth it. I learned so much about this incredible woman's life and I found a kindred spirit in h...more

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Dec 31, 2009 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars

How much of "Little Women" and other Alcott favorites is based on reality? That's one of the questions Reisen tries to answer. Far more interesting than that issue is the life of Alcott herself. Many a person may identify with her situation, as the only wage-earner, from her teens to death, in a family of ne'er-do-wells and inadequates and entitleds. She and her sisters lived in hunger much of their youth, and, as children, depended heavily on hand-me-downs and hand-outs. I don't know whether th...more

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May 28, 2010 MAP rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Louisa May Alcott fans

Shelves: non-fiction, biographies-and-memoirs

Like many girls, when I was 11 or 12, I read Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. Unlike many girls, the book made no real lasting impact on me. By that time, I was a voracious reader, and Little Women was just one more in a long line of books I was devouring. I enjoyed the book, and was glad I had read it, but it was not one of those books that I carried with me emotionally even days after I had finished it, like it seems to be for so many others.

Therefore, I was drawn to this biography not becaus...more

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May 08, 2010 Jodi rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People interested in Louisa May Alcott

Recommended to Jodi by: Goodreads

Shelves: biography

I enjoyed learning about Louisa May Alcott but at times the book was a little dry - thus 2 stars. The author was definitely well-researched and gave a pretty good idea of Louisa as a person.

What I learned about Louisa May Alcott:

- She grew up in extreme poverty and often times didn't get enough to eat with bread and an apple being a big meal for her and her family because her father, Bronson Alcott just couldn't manage to keep a job for long and he was not much of a worker anyway. Along with not...more

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Jan 31, 2011 Toni rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography-memoir, history

I cannot say that this was an enjoyable book to read. What I CAN say is that it is very well written and exhaustively researched. The "fairy tale" life that Alcott spun for the readers of Little Women was a far cry from her real life family whom the story was loosely based on. In fact, the genteel proverty that the fictional March family led was pure luxury compared to the abject poverty the Alcott family led. Bronson Alcott, who was one of the pioneers of the "enlightened" movement of the 19th...more

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May 23, 2010 Laurel-Rain rated it 5 of 5 stars

This story behind the great author is a beautifully wrought and in-depth portrait that sweeps forward from her birth and through the landscape of her life, but also fills in the picture with details of her parents' lives as well.

In the context of what was going on historically, Louisa May Alcott's success is even more awesome. She grew up in a time where women were not yet given the voice. Later in her adulthood, she would jump onto that cause, as well, struggling to help women obtain the vote.

H...more This story behind the great author is a beautifully wrought and in-depth portrait that sweeps forward from her birth and through the landscape of her life, but also fills in the picture with details of her parents' lives as well.

In the context of what was going on historically, Louisa May Alcott's success is even more awesome. She grew up in a time where women were not yet given the voice. Later in her adulthood, she would jump onto that cause, as well, struggling to help women obtain the vote.

Her childhood, bleak with poverty, with a father who was absent more often than not—with his own philosophical leanings toward Transcendentalism, a cause that consumed him, along with others—but her mother was very present, albeit struggling at times to feed and clothe the family. Louisa's mother Abby lost several children in miscarriage and stillbirth, before she finally had all four girls.

What strikes me most about this wonderful biography is how Louisa finally created such a wonderful portrait of genteel poverty for her Little Women characters, polishing up her own story and embellishing it so that it would be more palatable—illuminating each family member, including her absent father, in a more favorable light.

But before we even got to Little Women, there were the years of struggle, with the compulsive writer churning out pulp fiction, adventure stories, poetry, and whatever she could sell...sometimes for just a few dollars. But she always sent money home from wherever she was—Boston, usually. She went back and forth between various boarding houses or garrets to the home in whatever village her mother was living. Her life was characterized by much instability, with more than thirty moves in her childhood alone.

This tale also includes scenes from the Civil War years, when Louisa worked as a nurse until she finally had to come home (after three years) due to exhaustion and illness.

Like many writers, Louisa used her own life experiences to fuel her work, and what she hadn't experienced personally, she filled in with what she gleaned from reading.

There was so much wonderful information in "Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women" that sometimes I felt bogged down in the details of the early years, but as soon as she began to achieve success and had written Little Women, the story soared for me. I loved reading about how she wrote that book, how she finally came to write the others, and even about how she finally began to enjoy the fruits of her labor with trips to Europe.

Although I knew that she would die eventually, I felt sad when it happened. As if a great light had been extinguished, and to realize, too, that she died at a relatively young age (56).

I am still amazed, though, at how her books are still out there for all of us to enjoy. I loved them as a child and I'll be rereading them again in the next few weeks.

Definitely five stars for this story of a major talent.

(less)

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Aug 25, 2011 Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars

As is true for so many others, Louisa May Alcott and her alter-ego, Jo March, are icons of my childhood.

I already knew quite a bit about Louisa May Alcott but I still found this an informative biography.

Louisa seemed to resemble her counterpart, Jo March, even more than I'd expected. I was also surprised by how many details from the Alcott's real lives found their way into Little Women. Not surprisingly, it seems as if she wrote her life, but as she wished it to be.

I found some of the details fr...more

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Jan 06, 2010 Saralibrary rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, non-fiction

Having loved Little Women as a child and having visited Orchard House in high school, I was thrilled to see a new biography of Louisa May Alcott appearing on the shelves. Reisen's biography is very accessible and brings her subject, as well as the whole Alcott family, to life through excerpts from letters, journals and Alcott's (often autobiographical) stories. She also doesn't round off Alcott's rough edges, as previous biographers had done to preserve the author's "Aunt Jo" public persona.

Ins...more

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Dec 30, 2009 Jennifer (JC-S) rated it 4 of 5 stars

‘The Woman behind Little Women’

This is a well written and enjoyable biography of Louisa May Alcott. By providing a chronological account of the lives of the Alcott’s, it is much easier to appreciate both the times in which they lived and the influences that shaped their lives.

The first part of the book focuses mainly on Louisa’s parents Abigail May and Bronson Alcott and their friends. As their friends included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Thoreau and Nathaniel Hawthorne this is both interesting a...more

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Jun 03, 2010 Kjes rated it 3 of 5 stars

very good bio of the Alcotts. Branson, the dad, was a a mess, a real deadbeat, giving all the family a very hard life. the parents seemed very intrusive into their four daughters' lives. The Alcotts knew everybody who was anybody during their day, in spite of their deadbeat ways. Louisa had a very hard life, feeling responsible for all the family. tragically, she was alone when she died.

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Apr 19, 2012 Sanya Weathers rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: brain-food

Wow. Again, a biography of one of my favorite authors winds up with three stars because of the subject and not the book. Subject - five stars. Book... one. Two if I'm feeling sweet.

This time, I was actually quite enjoying it. The scholarship seemed good, the writing was crisp and dryly humorous, and the material was well organized. Generally, the point of this book was that biography illuminated LMA's novels, and vice versa.

Then, oh, maybe three quarters in, give or take a chapter, the author do...more

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Jun 26, 2011 Suzanne Moore rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biographies

I am inspired by the life of Louisa May Alcott! Reisen's account of her life left nothing out, and I learned many things I didn't know about LMA. All I really knew about her prior to reading this book was that she wrote Little Women (and other popular children's novels) and she is a card in the game Authors.

I have always loved Little Women ... it has been my favorite book since the day I read it as a young girl. Actually my mother read the story to me the first time, and I then reread it severa...more

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About Harriet Reisen

Harriet Reisen's interest in Louisa May Alcott dates to her marathon reading of Alcott’s eight children’s novels during a rainy spell one childhood summer. Over the past twenty years, what began as an idea for a film biography of Alcott developed into a passion for the subject herself. A former fellow in screenwriting at the American Film Institute, Reisen has written dramatic and historical docum...more

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