The first comprehensive collection of Louisa May Alcott's (1832-1888) nonfiction sketches, this volume of vivid short writings deserves a special place on the bookshelves of scholars and general readers alike. As Kansas State University Alcott scholar Gregory Eiselein writes in his introduction, Alcott's "achievements in the genre have largely escaped attention because most of the texts have been unavailable." Fortunately, this is no longer so. Grouped into five categories ("Hospital Sketches," "Letters from the Mountains," "Sketches of Europe," "Concord, Massachusetts," and "From The Youth's Companion and Merry's Museum"), these by turns frank, witty, ironic, charming and pensive pieces were almost all written when Alcott was between the ages of 28 and 43.
