THIS PROJECT WOULD not have been possible without the groundwork laid by generations of talented Alcott scholars. I am particularly indebted to Beverly Lyon Clark, author of The Afterlife of Little Women, Anne K. Phillips and Gregory Eiselein, editors of the Norton Critical edition of Little Women, as well as Daniel Shealy, Joel Myerson, and Madeleine Stern, editors of The Selected Letters of Louisa May Alcott, The Journals of Louisa May Alcott, and Alcott in Her Own Time. The work of biographers John Matteson, Eve LaPlante, and Harriet Reisen has also been extremely helpful. It has been my pleasure to meet many of these scholars, and I very much enjoyed my discussions with Eve, Harriet, and Daniel as I worked on this book.
I am also grateful to those who aided me in securing the time I needed to write this book. Cheryl Torsney and Sharon M. Harris graciously supported my application for funding, and the National Endowment for the Humanities provided invaluable support through a Public Scholar Award. The University of New Orleans also provided supplementary funding.
Many people also aided me in writing this book. Many heartfelt thanks to the NOLA Nonfiction Writing Group, especially Pat Brady, Nigel Hamilton, Randy Delehanty, Carol Gelderman, Lynn Adams, and Molly Mitchell for support and advice. I am grateful as well to Susan Rudy, Constance Adler, Miki Pfeffer, Pamela Toler, Teresa Brader, and Theresa Kaminski for their advice on a portion of the manuscript, and particularly to Beverly Rude, who read the whole thing.
As I developed my thoughts about Little Women, I found women of all ages eager to discuss the book with me. Thank you to all of the book’s fans who shared their thoughts with me online and in person over the last few years, especially Shawna Ross and Susan Harlan. I was particularly blessed to have a group of women from the New Orleans chapter of the Women’s National Book Association read Little Women, Little Men, and Jo’s Boys with me and share their many fascinating experiences with and opinions of the books: Constance Adler, Susan Larson, Miki Pfeffer, Teresa Brader, and Carol Gelderman. I was also quite fortunate to meet in London with Susan Rudy, Krissie West, Helen Glew, and Dawn Sardella-Ayres for a delightful evening discussing Little Women. My thanks to Susan Rudy for graciously hosting us! Thank you as well to Katheryne Patterson at Lusher Charter School and Erin Fallon and Melissa Lyman at Louise S. McGehee School, both in New Orleans, Louisiana, for facilitating my visits, and to the students in Ms. Patterson’s and Ms. Lyman’s classes, who discussed Little Women and their other reading with me.
I am grateful to the staff of the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, and the Clifton Waller Barrett Library at the University of Virginia for facilitating my research there. Leslie Perrin Wilson of the Special Collections at the Concord Free Public Library was tremendously helpful with locating Alcott material there. Jan Turnquist at Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, was a fount of information and was kind enough to bring me along to an evening reception so that we could talk along the way. Susan Bailey and Jeannine Atkins were kind enough to drive to Concord to meet me during my stay and discuss all things Alcott. Miki Pfeffer drove me out to Fruitlands for a splendid visit.
Research assistant Kristy Lewis helped gather articles and other resources. My thanks to the English Department at the University of New Orleans, particularly the chair, Peter Schock, for providing the funds for a research assistant and for supporting my work generally.
My sincere thanks as well to my agent Barbara Braun, for helping this project to find such a wonderful home, and to my editor, Amy Cherry, for her insight, support, and outstanding editorial advice. Remy Cawley again was an invaluable guide through the process of manuscript preparation. And Christianne Thillen was a superb copy editor who helped me avoid many errors.
Lastly, I appreciate beyond measure the love and support of my family. To Paul and Emma, you have helped me more than anyone to appreciate Jo’s feeling that her book “will be all the better for such experiences and illustrations as these,” referring to her family. I sincerely believe that mine is better, and my life richer, for having you as my family.