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Simply put: Excellent
“I first found this book in the library during the summer of 2009 while browsing the Transcendentalism offerings. Being a fan of Louisa's, I jumped on this and found a gold mine. I had to add it to my home library so I could savor every page and mark passages. Writing a dual biography is quite a feat and Mr. Matteson accomplished it beautifully. It was amazing to learn so much about Louisa -- the people she knew, her mentors, her fearlessness during such a turbulent time in American history -- and how her father's lifestyle and philosophies made such an impact on her (and the family). You will never think of Louisa the same way again after reading -- living -- this book. What a remarkable woman. Thank you, Mr. Matteson -- I would love to be a student in one of your classes if this is an example of your thoroughness of and sensitivity to subjects.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2010-01-04. -
Outstanding Dual Biography
“Reading literary biographies has long been my not so quilty pleasure. I can say with all honesty that John Matteson's "Eden's Outcasts" is one of the best that I have read. I learned that the book was a Pulitzer prize winner only after I had finished it and I was delighted to have my humble opinion so decidedly confirmed.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-12-03.
Matteson manages to give equal attention to the story of the more famous writer Louisa May Alcott and that of her father Bronson, a brilliant, idealistic philosopher who was a leader in the 19th century American Transcendentalist movement and a progressive educator. Although Bronson was an admired friend of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, he was also a troubled man who was woefully incapable of earning a living. The Alcott family often lived in dismal lodgings with a man who dwelled in castles in the air. Louisa was a willful original who sometimes perplexed her father but who ultimately rescued the family with the wild success of "Little Women".
The author's writing style is deft but graceful, with just the right dose of historical information and story-telling. I was a relative newcomer to the topics presented in the book but I never fell into my nasty habit of biographical page skimming. Most of all, the story of the complex relationship between father and sensitive daughter is told with heart - Matteson formally acknowledges two colleagues who taught him to write "with precision" and ..."with love". The book's concluding paragraph knocks this one out of the park. ” -
1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
Mr. Alcott steps to center stage
“Although Louisa May Alcott gets top billing in the subtitle of "Eden's Outcasts," the real star of this wonderful double biography is her father, Bronson Alcott. He is a real citizen of the nineteenth century, and it is hard to imagine him existing in any other. A utopian, a friend of all the great Transcendentalists, a philosopher whose musings were virtually unreadable in his own time, a dreamer who could never provide for his own family, he had his share of flaws, some of which almost destroyed the family that was the true mainstay of his life. In his own time, his foibles left him open to mockery, and one can, at times, seem to feel his biographer, John Matteson, sigh with impatience as Bronson makes another unwise decision that will further burden his long-suffering wife, Abba, and the four daughters who will later, by Louisa's hand, be transformed into the March family of "Little Women.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-03-12.
Bronson Alcott was a man ahead of his time in any number of ways. He believed in the gentle and unforced teaching of children, in contrast to the rote learning and corporal punishment that was common. He espoused vegetarianism (he appears to have been a vegan) and believed that the cultivation of gardens was a source of spiritual, as well as nutritional, satisfaction. He championed the rights of women and was a fervent abolitionist. He eschewed religious doctrine and never abandoned his optimism that human beings could strive, however imperfectly, towards a kind of perfection. Not surprisingly, such a man was not easy to live with, and the difficulties his family endured as he struggled to formulate his ideals--at the Temple School, at Fruitlands, and on through a very long life--are wrenching.
They are also the points at which his life and his daughter's intersect. Matteson's account of Louisa's childhood and of her service as a Civil War nurse is engaging, but as she becomes a writer in adulthood, her biography becomes less interesting. Matteson gives sensitive readings of "Little Women" and "Little Men," but his accounts of her other works are of interest only for the light they shed on her family. I read "Little Women" more than once in my childhood, so I especially loved one detail in particular about Louisa.. "Little Women" was the "Harry Potter" of its day, and its fans inundated her with letters, pleas for autographs, and so on, an unwelcome intrusion that made her exceedingly cross. This author worship, the kind where the reading public cries out for "More!" of the same, was exactly the kind of adulation that Bronson craved all his life.” -
1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
Quite good and informative
“This book taught me a lot about Transcendentalism and all the myriad connections among authors whom I might otherwise not have considered as part of a community. The narrative flows smoothly between Bronson Alcott and his more famous daughter, Louisa. Both help to illuminate the other. In the end one gets a very thorough portrait of a distinct time in New England history. I especially learned a lot about Louisa's role as a nurse in the Civil War and now intend to read her "Hospital Sketches."
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-03-04.
I can and do recommend this book.” -
1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
Absorbed and Enthralled
“As a resident of Concord Massachusetts and an avid fan of all the great writers and transcendental thoughtleaders of the mid 19th Century, I began reading this book with high excitement... and it did not disappoint! Moreover, as the writer/father of a 15-year-old daughter who is also a terrific natural writer, I was absorbed by the relationship between Louisa and Bronson (both writers themselves) and enthralled by the details of life in Concord way back then. John Matteson has performed a brilliant service for all of us who care deeply about these wonderful, magical thinkers and dreamers during Concord's golden artistic age. If you are at all interested in this subject, your library will be lacking if you fail to include this book.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-01-19.
