Miss Louisa May Alcott Publishes a Novel for Girls: Press Reacts to "Little Women" 1868 & 1869

This is the Sesquicentennial of the publication of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. This book may have been the most successful novel published during the Civil War and Reconstruction Era. The book is set on the home front during the Civil War and during the first years after the war. Volume I was issued in 1868 and Volume II the following year. In this post, I am going to offer a few reviews of the book. Keep in mind that reviewers in 1868 were not even sure if there was going to be a second volume!

Little Women was aimed at a market that publishers were unsure even existed-‘tween and teen girls who wanted read about people like themselves. Most books aimed at what we would now call the “Young Adult” market were stories of adventure for boys (that girls could read too, presumaby). When the first volume of Little Women became a clear success almost as soon as it was published, the audience announced itself, and demanded a second voume, which Alcott quickly wrote and her publisher rushed into print. Newspaper reviews recognized that, however commercial the origins of Little Women, it was a wonder in its naturalness and emotional truth.