by John Matteson
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Product Description
Winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Biography: The beloved author of Little Women was torn between pleasing her idealistic father and planting her feet in the material world.
Louisa May Alcott's name is known universally. Yet, during her youth, the famous Alcott was her father, Bronson—an eminent teacher, lecturer, and admired friend of Emerson and Thoreau. Willful and exuberant, Louisa flew in the face of all her father's intricate theories of child rearing. She, in turn, could not understand the frugal life Bronson preached, one that reached its epitome in the failed utopian community of Fruitlands. In a family that insisted on self-denial and spiritual striving, Louisa dreamed of wealth and fame. At the same time, like most daughters, she wanted her father's approval. As her father struggled to recover from a breakdown and slowly resurrect his career, Louisa learned to support her family, teaching if she must, but finally finding her vocation in writing. This story of their tense yet loving relationship adds dimensions to Louisa's life, her work, and the relationships of fathers and daughters. 26 illustrations.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Interesting Biography!, 2008-11-23
For those of you who loved LITTLE WOMEN, it is most interesting to read about the author's actual relationship with her family, most particularly with her father. It is quickly apparent that Ms. Alcott has liberally sprinkled all of her novels with stories from her own unbringing, but paints her fictional family's life with an exceedingly idealistic brush. Mr. Matteson has researched this family thoroughly and builds a convincing narrative. He is obviously invested in accurately describing each member, rather than swaying or prejudicing his audience toward any point of view.
Louisa's father was a transendentalist who was friends with the likes of Thoreau. As an educator, he attempted to raise his girls by his own philosophies on molding children. Louisa never quite fit into his model which caused a conflictual, although loving, relationship between the two. For most of his life he would have been considered a "failure" in terms of supporting his family - financially and emotionally.
The children, (primarily Louisa) were expected to support the family. It appears that she did so willingly, despite the toll that it took on her health and well-being. While Louisa craved Mr. Alcott's approval, she only seemed to fully receive it after experiencing dehabilitating health problems. Ironically, in his later years Mr. Alcott unexpectedly produced a best-selling book, and finally enjoyed the idea of two famous authors in the family.
I could go on and on about their relationship, but the book does a far superior job of it. I found it especially interesting to see how Ms. Alcott reshaped each of her family member's fictional lives, and relationships with one another, in her novels. As the biographer, Mr. Matteson does a masterful job of pointing out how she reshaped and recolored their shared history in almost an "unconsciously" healing manner.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
A Unique Biography of a Unique Family, 2008-02-16
Thank you to Jim Matteson for reading every scrap the Alcotts left behind and digesting it into this wonderful dual biography.
I was a young reader of Little Women (maybe 10 times) and the rest of the series. Later as an adult, I never quite put together the pieces the family. Now I know how the Alcotts fit in with Emerson and Thoreau, the role of Fruitlands in the life of the Alcotts and how it was the Amy came to marry Laurie.
The above paragraph could sound flip without the understanding of how Louisa's fiction was a byproduct of both her father's idealism and his inability to support his family. Louisa would be his standard bearer, but she would at all costs, support the family.
Bronson's philosophy of education was ahead of his time. While it can be debated whether his career ending publications served the cause, it is clear, it did not serve the family well. Followed by a second public humiliation in the touted but failed Fruitlands experiment, you can imagine the grief of a former idealist with a young family to feed.
How many father's careers have been rescued by their children... and in the 19th century... any by their daughters? In the case of the Alcotts, it is more than a career redeemed, it is also values and virtues.
Matteson gives a wonderfully readable dual biography. He sticks with his thesis. It's good that he resisted the temptation to delve into the other interesting personalities of the time. Just like when I first read Little Women, I didn't want this book to end.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
A cautionary tale, 2008-01-29
I agree with all the other reviewers, this is an outstanding biography. It is also something of a cautionary tale of the utopian urge that occasionally effects intellectuals. Never able to support his family, Bronson Alcott persisted in searching for a heaven on earth. His actions to actually create such a place are very sad.
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
excellent biography!, 2008-01-06
The author manages to do justice to both his subjects, Louisa May Alcott and her father. He also creates an excellent picture of the time and explains the transcendtalist movement. Besides L.M. Alcott and B. Alcott one learns a lot about Emerson, Thoreau, Elizabeth Peabody and other luminaries of the time. The book is fact driven, there are often long quotations from original material and it is very well written. A most enlightening book, bringing its subjects and their surroundings to life. I originally bought this book becasue of my interst in L.M. Alcott but by the end I found her father at least as interesting.
I read this book like a thriller, finishing it in three days.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
Not just a biography..., 2007-12-15
This is an engaging work of nonfiction. Matteson delivers a well written, fact driven, story about the interwoven lives of Bronson and Louisa May Alcott. Wonderfully rendered, it's never boring. Definitely worth a read if you're interested in 19th century women, writers, or history in general.
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