Fruitlands: Louisa May Alcott Made Perfect

"Fruitlands: Louisa May Alcott Made Perfect" made me wonder if Bronson Alcott wasn't mentally ill, or criminally irresponsible. If the details in this fictional diary are true, and I think they are, then he should have been jailed for child abuse, physical and psychological. How Louisa survived emotionally and psychologically is a mystery: it must have been her mother who saved her. This book also makes Emerson looks strange, at least. He had his doubts, yet he "loaned money" to Alcott. In today's terms, was Emerson an enabler? Bronson was evidently very charming, but not the first charming criminal. If nothing else, he charmed money out of most of his friends. A real problem case. Then there is his wife, his use of her, and her agreement with too many of his unhealthy ideas: a starvation diet, for one.

This book is really fun to read and quite interesting. The contrast between the two journals drives home the fact that LMA was just a little girl embarking on this experiment with her family. What a good sport she was! While based on actual events, the story is fictional. I think this is a good place to start if your not quite sure you want to read Little Women (you'll want to!). This book would be a great jumping-off point if you were looking to get someone interested in LMA and her works.