Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father

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Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father

Author: John Matteson
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Copyright: 2007
Pages: 497
Cover Price: $ 29.95

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Louisa May Alcott's name is known universally. Yet, during her youth, the famous Alcott was her father, Bronson, ?an eminent teacher, lecturer, and admired friend of Emerson and Thoreau. Willful and exuberant, Louisa flew in the face of all her father's intricate theories of child rearing. She, in turn, could not understand the frugal life Bronson preached, one that reached its epitome in the failed utopian community of Fruitlands. In a family that insisted on self-denial and spiritual striving, Louisa dreamed of wealth and fame.

At the same time, like most daughters, she wanted her father's approval. As her father struggled to recover from a breakdown and slowly resurrect his career, Louisa learned to support her family, teaching if she must, but finally finding her vocation in writing. This story of their tense yet loving relationship adds dimensions to Louisa's life, her work, and the relationships of fathers and daughters.

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Background Information

Ralph Waldo Emerson was a noted Massachusetts writer, philosopher, and leader in the Transcendentalist movement. Henry David Thoreau was a Massachusetts transcendentalist before the Civil War who wrote the classic work On Civil Disobedience.