Harold B. Lee Library

Biographies and Criticism

The following list includes monographs only, though the Alcott Collection has many copies of individual essays and journal articles dealing with Alcott and her works. These articles can be found through a search of the library catalog.

Selected Biographies

Bedell, Madelon. The Alcotts: biography of a family. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1980

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1013 .B4 1980

Elbert, Sarah. A hunger for home: Louisa May Alcott and Little Women. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1984.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1018 .E4 1984

Meigs, Cornelia. The story of the author of Little Women: Invincible Louisa. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1934.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1018 .M39 1934

Reisen, Harriet. Louisa May Alcott: the story of the woman behind Little Women. New York: Henry Holt, 2009.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1018 .R45 2009

Saxton, Martha. Louisa May: a modern biography of Louisa May Alcott. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1977.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1018 .S27 1977

Shealy, Daniel. Alcott in her own time: a biographical chronicle of her life, drawn from recollections, interviews, and memoirs by family, friends, and associates. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2005.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1018 .A53 2005

Stern, Madeleine B. Louisa May Alcott: a biography (new edition). Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1999.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1018 .S75 1999

Selected Alcott Criticism

Delamar, Gloria T. Louisa May Alcott and “Little women”: biography, critique, publications, poems, songs, and contemporary relevance. Jefferson, North Carolina; London: McFarland & Company, 1990.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1018 .D45 1990

Louisa May Alcott: the contemporary reviews. Edited by Beverly Lyon Clark. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1018 .L688 2004

Marsella, Joy A. The Promise of Destiny: children and women in the short stories of Louisa May Alcott. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1983.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1018 .M33 1983

Payne, Alma J. Louisa May Alcott: a reference guide. Boston: GK Hall, 1980.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1018 .X1 P39 1980

Stern, Madeleine B. Louisa May Alcott: from blood & thunder to hearth & home. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1998.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1018 .S752 1998

Trites, Roberta Seelinger. Twain, Alcott, and the birth of the adolescent reform novel. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2007.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1338 .T75 2007

Williams, Susan S. Reclaiming authorship: literary women in America, 1850-1900. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 217 .W64 W55 2006