Synopses & Reviews
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography
"Thoroughly absorbing, lively . . . Fuller, so misunderstood in life, richly deserves the nuanced, compassionate portrait Marshall paints." and#8212; Boston Globe
Pulitzer Prize finalist Megan Marshall recounts the trailblazing life of Margaret Fuller: Thoreauand#8217;s first editor, Emersonand#8217;s close friend, daring war correspondent, tragic heroine. After her untimely death in a shipwreck off Fire Island, the sense and passion of her lifeand#8217;s work were eclipsed by scandal. Marshalland#8217;s inspired narrative brings her back to indelible life.
Whether detailing her front-page New-York Tribune editorials against poor conditions in the cityand#8217;s prisons and mental hospitals, or illuminating her late-in-life hunger for passionate experienceand#8212;including a secret affair with a young officer in the Roman Guardand#8212;Marshalland#8217;s biography gives the most thorough and compassionate view of an extraordinary woman. No biography of Fuller has made her ideas so alive or her life so moving.
and#8220;Megan Marshalland#8217;s brilliant Margaret Fuller brings us as close as we are ever likely to get to this astonishing creature. She rushes out at us from her nineteenth century, always several steps ahead, inspiring, heartbreaking, magnificent.and#8221; and#8212; Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity
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"Shaping her narrative like a novel, Marshall brings the reader as close as possible to Fullerand#8217;s inner life and conveys the inspirational power she has achieved for several generations of women." and#8212; New Republic
Synopsis
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography
Louisa May Alcott is known universally. Yet during Louisa's youth, the famous Alcott was her father, Bronson—an eminent teacher and a friend of Emerson and Thoreau. He desired perfection, for the world and from his family. Louisa challenged him with her mercurial moods and yearnings for money and fame. The other prize she deeply coveted—her father's understanding—seemed hardest to win. This story of Bronson and Louisa's tense yet loving relationship adds dimensions to Louisa's life, her work, and the relationships of fathers and daughters.
Synopsis
'The beloved author of
Little Womenwas torn between pleasing her idealistic father and planting her feet in the material world.\n
'
Synopsis
Winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Biography: "An amazing story [told] with clarity and intelligence...colorful and insightful."Martin Rubin, Los Angeles TimesLouisa May Alcott is known universally. Yet during Louisa's youth, the famous Alcott was her father, Bronsonan eminent teacher and a friend of Emerson and Thoreau. He desired perfection, for the world and from his family. Louisa challenged him with her mercurial moods and yearnings for money and fame. The other prize she deeply covetedher father's understandingseemed hardest to win. This story of Bronson and Louisa's tense yet loving relationship adds dimensions to Louisa's life, her work, and the relationships of fathers and daughters. 26 illustrations.
Synopsis
"An amazing story [told] with clarity and intelligence ... colorful and insightful."--Martin Rubin,
Synopsis
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography
The award-winning author of The Peabody Sisters takes a fresh look at the trailblazing life of a great American heroineand#8212;Thoreauand#8217;s first editor, Emersonand#8217;s close friend, first female war correspondent, passionate advocate of personal and political freedom.
About the Author
John Matteson was awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Biography for Eden's Outcasts and is also the author of The Lives of Margaret Fuller, which received the Ann M. Sperber Prize for Best Biography of a Journalist. He has been a Fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society and of the Leon Levy Center for Biography. He received the Distinguished Faculty Award of the John Jay College Alumni Association and the Dean's Award for Distinguished Achievement from the Columbia University School of Arts and Sciences. Distinguished Professor of English at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, he lives in the Bronx.