About this ebook
A true classic, Little Women follows the lives of Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy March, four spirited sisters living in Civil War era America. Experience 19th Century America with the Marches as they navigate New England life with a father at war, financial hardships, and the lure and intrigue of the handsome young man who lives next door.
Originally published in 1868, Little Women was an immediate best seller that inspired three sequels: Good Wives, Little Men, and Jo's Boys. Little Women is based directly on author Louisa May Alcott's own early life. Alcott's father, a reformist and staunch abolitionist, was able to often meet with luminary Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and other figures that would influence her to become one of the great American authors of the post-Civil War era.
The Knickerbocker Classics bring together the works of classic authors from around the world in stunning gift editions to be collected and enjoyed.
About the author
Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist best known as author of the novel Little Women and its sequels Good Wives, Little Men, and Jo’s Boys. Raised in New England by her transcendentalist parents, Abigail May and Amos Bronson Alcott, she grew up among many of the well-known intellectuals of the day, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau. Nevertheless, her family suffered severe financial difficulties and Alcott worked to help support the family from an early age. She began to receive critical success for her writing in the 1860s.
Laura Ciolkowski is Associate Director of the Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality, and Adjunct Associate Professor of English & Comparative Literature at Columbia University. Her work on Victorian literature and culture has been published in numerous academic journals, including Studies in the Novel, Victorian Literature and Culture, Genders and Novel: A Forum on Fiction.
