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Last edited by Tom Morris
September 25, 2023 | History
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Louisa May Alcott

29 November 1832 - 6 March 1888

Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania on November 29, 1832. She and her three sisters, Anna, Elizabeth, and May, were educated by their father, philosopher and teacher Bronson Alcott, and raised on the practical Christianity of their mother, Abigail May.

Louisa spent her childhood in Boston and in Concord, Massachusetts, where her days were enlightened by visits to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s library, excursions into nature with Henry David Thoreau, and theatricals in the barn at "Hillside".

Like her character, "Jo March" in Little Women, young Louisa was a tomboy. "No boy could be my friend till I had beaten him in a race," she claimed, "and no girl if she refused to climb trees, leap fences ..."

For Louisa, writing was an early passion. She had a rich imagination and often her stories became melodramas that she and her sisters would act out for friends. Louisa preferred to play the "lurid" parts in these plays --"the villains, ghosts, bandits, and disdainful queens."

At age 15, troubled by the poverty that plagued her family, she vowed: "I will do something by and by. Don’t care what, teach, sew, act, write -- anything to help the family; and I’ll be rich and famous and happy before I die, see if I won’t!"

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  • Cover of: Lulu's Library, Volume 1

    First published in 2023 3 editions in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Pauline's Passion and Punishment

    First published in 2020 3 editions in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Women Who Wrote: Stories and Poems from Audacious Literary Mavens

    First published in 2020 3 editions in 1 language
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  • Cover of: The Evil Image: two centuries of Gothic short fiction and poetry

    First published in 1981 3 editions in 1 language — 1 previewable
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  • Cover of: Little women abroad: the Alcott sisters' letters from Europe, 1870-1871

    First published in 2008 3 editions in 1 language — 1 previewable
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  • Cover of: The lost stories of Louisa May Alcott

    First published in 1995 3 editions in 1 language — 1 previewable
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  • Cover of: Reader's Digest Best Loved Books for Young Readers: Volume Six

    First published in 1967 3 editions in 1 language — 3 previewable Cover of edition readersdigestbes06alco Cover of edition readersdigestbes00alco
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  • Cover of: Jack et Jane

    First published in 2018 2 editions in 1 language
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  • Cover of: The girlhood diary of Louisa May Alcott, 1843-1846: writings of a young author

    First published in 2000 2 editions in 1 language — 1 previewable
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  • Cover of: Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag

    First published in 2018 2 editions in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Chase, or, a Long Fatal Love Chase

    First published in 1995 2 editions in 1 language
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  • Cover of: A Louisa May Alcott Christmas Book and Charm: Selected Holiday Stories and Poems (Charming Classics)

    First published in 2004 2 editions in 1 language — 1 previewable
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  • Cover of: Comic Tragedies: Written by 'Jo' and 'Meg' and Acted by the 'Little Women'

    First published in 2020 2 editions in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Rosa Em Flor

    First published in 2022 2 editions in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Pauline's Passion and Punishment

    First published in 2022 2 editions in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Louisa May Alcott Hidden Gems Collection: Eight Cousins; Rose in Bloom; an Old-Fashioned Girl; under the Lilacs; Jack and Jill

    First published in 2023 2 editions in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Kleine Männer: Ein Historischer Roman über Freundschaft und Liebe

    First published in 2021 2 editions in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Pauline's Passion and Punishment

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  • Cover of: May Flowers

    First published in 2020 2 editions in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Lulu's Library, Volume II

    First published in 2020 2 editions in 1 language
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Photo of Louisa May Alcott
Subjects
Fiction, Children's fiction, Fiction, general, Juvenile fiction, Fiction, short stories (single author), Social life and customs, American fiction (fictional works by one author), History, Conduct of life, New england, fiction, Women, Young women, American literature, Classic Literature, Families, Fiction, historical, general, Children's stories, American, Short stories, Sisters, fiction, Man-woman relationships, March family (fictitious characters), fiction, Sisters, Family life, Family life, fiction, Sex role
Places
New England, United States, Massachusetts, Nouvelle-Angleterre, England, Salem Village, Alabama, Egypt, Europe, Owl Creek Bridge, 221B Baker Street, Alpha Inn, Boston (Mass.), British Museum, Brixton, Chênière Caminada, Concord, Concord (Mass.), Covent Garden, Dayton (Ohio), European Union countries, Fruitlands (Harvard, Mass.), Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Grand Isle, Gulf of Mexico
People
Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), Devil, Ethelred, Faith Brown, Goodman Brown, Goody Cloyse, Madeline Usher, Roderick Usher, Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888), Peyton Farquhar, Adèle Ratignolle, Alcott family, Alcée Arobin, Alphonse Ratignolle, Amanda Wingfield, Amy March, Baker Street Irregulars, Bartleby, Beaudelet, Beth March, Breckinridge, C. Auguste Dupin, Catherine Cusack, Catherine Earnshaw, Cathy Linton
Time
19th century, Civil War, 1861-1865, 1600s, 20th century, 1861-1865, American Civil War, Civil War, Siglo XIX, 1783-1865, 1801, 1861-65, 1868-, 1894, 19e siècle, 19th Century, 20e siècle, Antebellum era, Jin dai ., Jindai, carnival

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Alternative names

  • M. Louisa Alcott
  • Louisa M. Alcott
  • Louisa Mae Alcott
  • Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888.
  • Alcott,Louisa May オルコット,ルイーザ・メイ (1832-1888)
  • A. M. Barnard
  • Louisa Alcott
  • Louisa May Louisa May Alcott
  • Lousia May Alcott
  • Louisa May 1832-1888 Alcott
  • Louis May Alcott
  • ALCOTT
  • Louisa M Alcott
  • Louisa May Alcott [Annotated]
  • Louisa May LOUISA MAY ALCOTT
  • May Alcott
  • L Alcott
  • Alcott l.-M.
  • Loauise May Alcott
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  • LOUISA ALCOTT
  • Mme. Louisa May Alcott
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  • Louise May Alcott
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  • Louisa M, Alcott,
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  • Louise M. Alcott
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  • Louisa M. ALCOTT
  • LOUISA M ALCOTT
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  • ALCOTT LOUISA M
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  • Alcott, Louisa May, Illustrated
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  • Alcott. Louisa May. 1832-1888.

History

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September 25, 2023 Edited by Tom Morris merge authors
July 1, 2022 Edited by AgentSapphire merge authors
July 1, 2022 Edited by AgentSapphire merge authors
July 1, 2022 Edited by AgentSapphire merge authors
April 1, 2008 Created by an anonymous user initial import