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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 Vol. 2

    First published in 2015 1 edition in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Mountain-Laurel and Maidenhair

    First published in 2019 2 editions in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Marjorie's Three Gifts

    First published in 2009 2 editions in 1 language
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    First published in 2021 1 edition in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Little Women Pack (Oxford Bookworms Library)

    First published in 2006 1 edition
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  • Cover of: Our Little Ghost

    First published in 2023 1 edition in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Under the lilacs

    First published in 1878 227 editions in 2 languages — 14 previewable Cover of edition underlilacs00alco2 Cover of edition underlilacsalcott Cover of edition underlilacs00alco3 Cover of edition underlilacs00alco_1 Cover of edition underlilacs19alco Cover of edition underlalacs00alcouoft Cover of edition underlilacs00alco Cover of edition underlilacs0alco Cover of edition cihm_95140
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  • Cover of: Charming Novels of Classic Heroines: Pollyanna, the Secret Garden, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

    First published in 2017 1 edition in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Candy Country

    First published in 2020 1 edition in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Petite Rose,ses Six Tantes et Ses Sept Cousins

    First published in 2018 1 edition in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Aquelles donetes

    First published in 2022 1 edition
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  • Cover of: Lulu's Library, Volume II

    First published in 2018 1 edition
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  • Cover of: The Quiet Little Woman: A Christmas Story

    First published in 1999 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: Becky's Christmas dream and other stories: profusely illustrated

    First published in 1895 5 editions in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Iyi Hanimlar

    First published in 2011 1 edition
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  • Cover of: Petite Rose Ses Six Tantes et Ses Sept Cousins: Livre Illustré

    First published in 2017 1 edition in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Fairies and Flowers Anthology : : Tales from Louisa May Alcott

    First published in 2022 1 edition in 1 language
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  • Cover of: Little Women Complete Collection: Little Women; Little Men; Jo's Boys

    First published in 2016 4 editions in 1 language
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  • Cover of: May Flowers

    First published in 2018 1 edition 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
  • Louisa May 1832-1888 Little Wo Alcott
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  • Louisa M, Alcott,
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  • Louise M. Alcott
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  • Ao er ke te (Alcott, Loouisa May)
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  • Louisa M. ALCOTT
  • LOUISA M ALCOTT
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  • ALCOTT LOUISA M
  • ALCOTT,LOUISA MAY
  • 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
June 29, 2022 Edited by AgentSapphire merge authors