Renowned Alcott scholar John Matteson brings his expertise to the book, to the March family it creates, and to the Alcott family who inspired it all. Through numerous photographs taken in the Alcott family home expressly for this edition--elder daughter Anna's wedding dress, the Alcott sisters' theater costumes, sister May's art, and Abba Alcott's recipe book--readers discover the extraordinary links between the real and the fictional family.
Matteson's annotations evoke the once-used objects and culture of a distant but still-relevant time, from the horse-drawn carriages to the art Alcott carefully placed in her story to references to persons little known today. His brilliant introductory essays examine Little Women's pivotal place in children's literature and tell the story of Alcott herself--a tale every bit as captivating as her fiction.