Daniel Shealy Edits Alcott at 150

Professor Daniel Shealy, perhaps the nation’s leading expert on the life and work of Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), has just edited an important new collection of essays, Little Women at 150 (U. Mississippi Press) that critically explore the the remarkable work of Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888). Little Women at 150, a collection of eight original essays by Shealy and important Alcott scholars, including Beverly Lyon Clark, Christine Doyle, Gregory Eiselein, John Matteson, Joel Myerson, Sandra Harbert Petrulionis, Anne K. Phillips, and Roberta Seelinger Trites, whose research and writings over the past twenty years have helped elevate Alcott’s reputation in the academic community, examines anew the enduring popularity of the novel and explores the myriad complexities of Alcott’s most famous work. Examining key issues about philanthropy, class, feminism, Marxism, Transcendentalism, canon formation, domestic labor, marriage, and Australian literature, Little Women at 150 presents new perspectives on one of the United States’ most enduring novels.