It looks like you're offline.
Open Library logo
additional options menu
Last edited by Tom Morris
September 25, 2023 | History

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!"

784 works Add another?

Sorting by Sorted by: Most Editions | First Published | Most Recent | Top Rated | Reading Log | Random

Showing all works by author. Would you like to see only ebooks?

  • Cover of: A modern Mephistopheles, and A whisper in the dark.

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Short stories
    First published in 1996 1 edition in 1 language — 1 previewable

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: A Modern Cinderella
    First published in 2002 88 editions in 1 language — 1 previewable

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Behind a mask: The unknown thrillers of Louisa May Alcott

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Little Button Rose
    First published in 1901 2 editions in 1 language — 1 previewable

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Work: A story of experience

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Old New England: 589 classic books on CD

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Selections from the Flower Fables

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Onder Moeders Vleugels

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Pour le meilleur, pour le pire.. et pour l'éternité

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: A Trellis for Mr. Ellis Or, How I Saved the World from Global Warming

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Chase, the (Special Sale)

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Quatre Filles Du Docteur March

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Nelly's hospital ...

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Fairies and Flowers Anthology : : Tales from Louisa May Alcott

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Silver Pitchers: And Independence, a Centennial Love Story

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Jack et Jane
    First published in 2018 2 editions in 1 language

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: The girlhood diary of Louisa May Alcott, 1843-1846: writings of a young author

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Le Docteur March marie ses filles

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today
  • Cover of: Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

    Check-In

    ×Close
    Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
    Today

ID Numbers

Links (outside Open Library)

No links yet. Add one?

Alternative names

History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON
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