New biographies of Louisa May Alcott
Two new biographies of Louisa May Alcott have been published in recent months. They are some of the newest additions to the Louisa May Alcott collection.
Yona Zeldis McDonough’s Louisa: The Life of Louisa May Alcott is aimed at a juvenile audience. McDonough narrates Alcott’s life and provides a list of Alcott quotes, a chronology of her life, and a brief list of sources for readers who want to study Alcott’s life further. She also prints two poems Alcott wrote before the age of twelve. The biography is illustrated by Bethanne Andersen, a former illustration professor at BYU.
Harriet Reisen’s Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women was published in October 2009. The book grew out of research for the documentary of the same name, which was broadcast as part of the PBS American Masters series last week (28 December 2009). The book chronicles Alcott’s life and career, beginning with her parents’ courtship and marriage and highlighting parallels between Alcott’s fiction and her real-life experiences.