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
and#160;
"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
Review
"Cheever has crafted a stirring book along the apex of love triangles, the edge of jockeying egos and the crest of creative bursts set against the crabbed human condition." Cleveland Plain Dealer
Review
"Susan Cheever's American Bloomsbury is a rather odd, and occasionally absorbing." Oregonian
Review
"[Cheever] does a wonderful job of tracing the constant overlap and interplay of common experience and shared ideas that helped to shape their remarkable output." Christian Science Monitor
Review
"Essential reading for anyone with an interest in American letters." Library Journal
Review
"[Cheever's] inclusion of the neglected Louisa May Alcott in this pantheon of greats is a refreshing gesture." Los Angeles Times
Review
"Cheever's accomplishment here is in making this fab five come alive for a new generation....American Bloomsbury is a charming book, and a welcome addition to the writings about these incomparable figures of American history." Balitomire Sun
Review
"Cheever doesn't really offer much that's new, but she packages it all so nicely. Rather than revering them as 'static daguerreotypes,' she brings these icons to life as men and women who fell in painful love, lived in crowded quarters, tramped on muddy roads, and 'walked arm in arm under Concord's great elms.' She also does a wonderful job of resurrecting the 19th century itself, and reminding us of how often her subjects were cold, hungry well, the Alcotts, anyway uncomfortable, and at the mercy of unenlightened doctors who harmed at least as often as they healed." Marjorie Kehe, The Christian Science Monitor (read the entire CSM review)
Synopsis
The 1850s were heady times in Concord, Massachusetts: in a town where a woman's petticoat drying on an outdoor line was enough to elicit scandal, some of the greatest minds of our nation's history were gathering in three of its wooden houses to establish a major American literary movement. The Transcendentalists, as these thinkers came to be called, challenged the norms of American society with essays, novels, and treatises whose beautifully rendered prose and groundbreaking assertions still resonate with readers today.
Though noted contemporary author Susan Cheever stands in awe of the monumental achievements of such writers as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Louisa May Alcott, her personal, evocative narrative removes these figures from their dusty pedestals and provides a lively account of their longings, jealousies, and indiscretions. Thus, Cheever reminds us that the passion of Concord's ambitious and temperamental resident geniuses was by no means confined to the page...
Synopsis
Between 1840 and 1868, Concord, Massachusetts, was home to such writers as Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau. In this fascinating history, noted author Cheever explores how Concord developed into the first American community devoted to idealism.
Synopsis
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography and#160; 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
Susan Cheever is the bestselling author of eleven previous books, including five novels and the memoirs Note Found in a Bottle and Home Before Dark. Her work has been nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award and won the Boston Globe Winship Medal. She is a Guggenheim Fellow, a member of the Corporation of Yaddo, and a member of the Author's Guild Council. She writes a weekly column for Newsday and teaches in the Bennington College M.F.A. program. She lives in New York City with her family.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrationsand#8195;xiii
Prologueand#8195;xv
Part I: Youth
and#160;and#160;and#160;1.and#160;and#160;and#160;Three Lettersand#8195;5
and#160;and#160;and#160;2.and#160;and#160;and#160;Ellen Kilshawand#8195;10
and#160;and#160;and#160;3.and#160;and#160;and#160;Theme: and#8220;Possunt quia posse videnturand#8221;and#8195;20
and#160;and#160;and#160;4.and#160;and#160;and#160;Marianaand#8195;28
Part II: Cambridge
and#160;and#160;and#160;5.and#160;and#160;and#160;The Young Ladyand#8217;s Friendsand#8195;39
and#160;and#160;and#160;6.and#160;and#160;and#160;Elective Affinitiesand#8195;51
Part III: Groton and Providence
and#160;and#160;and#160;7.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;My heart has no proper homeand#8221;and#8195;71
and#160;and#160;and#160;8.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;Returned into lifeand#8221;and#8195;89
and#160;and#160;and#160;9.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;Bringing my opinions to the testand#8221;and#8195;105
Part IV: concord, boston, jamaica plain
and#160;and#160;and#160;10.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;What were we born to do?and#8221;and#8195;127
and#160;and#160;and#160;11.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;The gospel of Transcendentalismand#8221;and#8195;142
and#160;and#160;and#160;12.and#160;and#160;and#160;Communities and Covenantsand#8195;163
and#160;and#160;and#160;13.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;The newest new worldand#8221;and#8195;202
Part V: New York
and#160;and#160;and#160;14.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;I stand in the sunny noon of lifeand#8221;and#8195;223
and#160;and#160;and#160;15.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;Flying on the paper wings of every dayand#8221;and#8195;235
and#160;and#160;and#160;16.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;A human secret, like my ownand#8221;and#8195;244
Part VI: Europe
and#160;and#160;and#160;17.and#160;and#160;and#160;Lost on Ben Lomondand#8195;269
and#160;and#160;and#160;18.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;Rome has grown up in my souland#8221;and#8195;282
and#160;and#160;and#160;19.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;A being born wholly of my beingand#8221;and#8195;315
Part VII: homeward
and#160;and#160;and#160;20.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;I have lived in a much more full and true wayand#8221;and#8195;353
and#160;and#160;and#160;21.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;No favorable windand#8221;and#8195;369 and#160; Epilogue: and#8220;After so dear a stormand#8221;and#8195;379
Acknowledgmentsand#8195;393
Notesand#8195;397
Indexand#8195;451