It looks like you're offline.
Donate
English (en) Change Website Language
Open Library logo
additional options menu
Last edited by bitnapper
December 24, 2024 | History
Edit

Louisa May Alcott

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!"

Photo of Louisa May Alcott

American novelist (1832–1888)

Born 29 November 1832
Died 6 March 1888

2408 works Add another?

  • Cover of: Under the Lilacs

    First published in 2008 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

  • Cover of: Rose in Bloom: By Louisa May Alcott - Illustrated

    First published in 2016 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

  • Cover of: Abbot's Ghost, or Maurice Treherne's Temptation

    First published in 2018 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

  • Cover of: Old-Fashioned Girl

    First published in 2017 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

  • Cover of: Old-Fashioned Girl

    First published in 2014 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

  • Cover of: Flower Fables

    First published in 2017 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

  • Cover of: Under the Lilacs

    First published in 2017 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

  • Cover of: Rose in Bloom

    First published in 2017 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

  • Cover of: Collection of Friendship

    First published in 2020 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

  • Cover of: Little Men

    First published in 2015 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

  • Cover of: Eight Cousins

    First published in 2017 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

  • Cover of: Eight Cousins

    First published in 2016 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

  • Cover of: Flower Fables

    First published in 2017 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

  • Cover of: Garland for Girls

    First published in 2012 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

  • Cover of: Iyi Esler

    First published in 2000 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

  • Cover of: Betty und ihre Schwestern.

    First published in 1993 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

  • Cover of: Little Men

    First published in 2004 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

  • Cover of: Little Vampire Women

    First published in 2010 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

  • Cover of: Little Women Complete Collection: Little Women; Little Men; Jo's Boys

    First published in 2016 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

  • Cover of: Little women

    First published in 1869 — 4 editions
    Locate

    My Reading Lists:

    Create a new list

Photo of Louisa May Alcott

American novelist (1832–1888)

Born 29 November 1832
Died 6 March 1888

Subjects

Children's fiction, Fiction, New england, fiction, Fiction, short stories (single author), Family life, fiction, Girls, fiction, American fiction (fictional works by one author), Juvenile fiction, Fiction, general, Social life and customs, History, Conduct of life, Families, Young women, Women, American literature, Classic Literature, Fiction, historical, general, Children's stories, American, Sisters, Alcott, louisa may, 1832-1888, Short stories, Sisters, fiction, Family life, Man-woman relationships

Places

New England, United States, Nouvelle-Angleterre, Massachusetts, England, Salem Village, Alabama, Concord (Mass.), Egypt, Europe, Fruitlands (Harvard, Mass.), New York, Owl Creek Bridge, Washington (D.C.), 221B Baker Street, Alpha Inn, Boston (Mass.), British Museum, Brixton, Chênière Caminada, Concord, Covent Garden, Dayton (Ohio), European Union countries, Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)

People

Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), Devil, Ethelred, Faith Brown, Goodman Brown, Goody Cloyse, Madeline Usher, Roderick Usher, Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888), Peyton Farquhar, Adèle Ratignolle, Alcott family, Alcée Arobin, Alphonse Ratignolle, Amanda Wingfield, Amy March, Baker Street Irregulars, Bartleby, Beaudelet, Beth March, Breckinridge, C. Auguste Dupin, Catherine Cusack, Catherine Earnshaw, Cathy Linton

Time

19th century, Civil War, 1861-1865, 1600s, 1861-1865, 20th century, American Civil War, Civil War, Siglo XIX, 1783-1865, 1801, 1861-65, 1862-1863, 1868-, 1894, 19e siècle, 19th Century, 20e siècle, Antebellum era, Jin dai ., Jindai, carnival

Add to List

My Reading Lists:

Create a new list

ID Numbers

Links outside Open Library

No links yet. Add one?

Alternative names

  • M. Louisa Alcott
  • Louisa M. Alcott
  • Louisa Mae Alcott
  • Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888.
  • Alcott,Louisa May オルコット,ルイーザ・メイ (1832-1888)
  • A. M. Barnard
  • Louisa Alcott
  • Louisa May Louisa May Alcott
  • Lousia May Alcott
  • Louisa May 1832-1888 Alcott
  • Louis May Alcott
  • ALCOTT
  • Louisa M Alcott
  • Louisa May LOUISA MAY ALCOTT
  • May Alcott
  • L Alcott
  • Alcott l.-M.
  • Loauise May Alcott
  • LouisaM Alcott
  • louisa may alcott
  • LOUISA ALCOTT
  • Mme. Louisa May Alcott
  • May Louisa Alcott
  • Louise May Alcott
  • Louisa May, Alcott,
  • Louisa M, Alcott,
  • Louisa May Alcott,Louisa May Alcott,Louisa Alcott,Louisa May Alcott,
  • Louise M. Alcott
  • L. M. Alcott
  • M. L. Alcott
  • LOUISA M. ALCOTT
  • Alcott
  • Alcott Louisa May
  • LOUISA MAY ALCOTT
  • louisa may Alcott
  • Alcott Louise
  • Ao er ke te (Alcott, Loouisa May)
  • Louisia May Alcott
  • Louisa May "Alcott "
  • Allcott
  • Louisa May Alcot
  • Ao er ke te
  • Aoerkete
  • Louisa May Allcat
  • Louisa May
  • Louisa May Alcott Alcott
  • Louisa May Louisa May
  • Louisa May Alcott.
  • Louisa May ALCOTT
  • Louisa ALCOTT
  • Louisa Alcott May
  • Louisa M. Louisa M. Alcott
  • Louisa Louisa May Alcott
  • Louisa May Alcott Louisa May Alcott
  • Louisa M. ALCOTT
  • LOUISA M ALCOTT
  • Louisa m Alcott
  • Alcott,Louisa May
  • louisa m alcott
  • Louisa May (1832-1888) Alcott
  • Alcott Louisa M
  • louisa alcott
  • Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888
  • ALCOTT LOUISA M
  • ALCOTT,LOUISA MAY
  • louisa may louisa may alcott
  • Louisa Alcott Alcott
  • Alcott. Louisa May. 1832-1888.
  • Louise MAY ALCOTT
  • LOUISE MAY ALCOTT

History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON
December 24, 2024 Edited by bitnapper merge authors
November 14, 2024 Edited by Freso merge authors
August 28, 2024 Edited by Tom Morris Remove bad AKAs
September 25, 2023 Edited by Tom Morris merge authors
April 1, 2008 Created by an anonymous user initial import