Little Women

This authoritative, accurate text of the first edition (1868-69) of Little Women is accompanied by textual variants and thorough explanatory annotations. "Backgrounds and Contexts" includes a wealth of archival materials, among them previously unpublished correspondence with Thomas Niles and Alcott's own precursors to Little Women. "Criticism" reprints twenty nineteenth-century reviews. Seven modern essays represent a variety of critical theories used to read and study the novel, including feminist (Catharine R. Stimpson, Elizabeth Keyser), new historicist (Richard H. Brodhead), psychoanalytic (Angela M. Estes and Kathleen Margaret Lant), and reader-response (Barbara Sicherman). A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.

Louisa May Alcott was born in 1832 in Pennsylvania and grew up in Concord, Massachusetts. She is best known for her books for children. The daughter of philosopher and reformer Amons Bronson Alcott, she was also a supporter of women's rights and an abolitionist. Family debts led her to write the autobiographical novel <b>Little Women</b> (1868). The book was a huge success, followed by <b>Little Men, An Old-Fashioned Girl</b>, and several other novels.<br><br><br><i>From the Trade Paperback edition.</i>