Milwood Classics Book Club

For nearly 160 years, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott has been in continuous print. Somewhere, a copy is being printed as we speak. It is one of the most widely read and most influential books ever written by an American. It is both revolutionary and yet real. It is fictional and biographical. It is listed as an inspiration by Gloria Steinem, Gertrude Stein, and Simone de Beauvoir. So basically, it sits as a foundational document of modern feminism.

It is also attacked for its domesticity and as the book that caused the fissure in publishing that divided the genders and how books would be marketed in the future. Some argue that its idealization of hearth and home has undercut women’s rights and encouraged a middle path between submissiveness and radical independence. And then there are those for whom it is simply a great story.

So, forget the movies, set aside what you think, and take a fresh new look at this classic.

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