Download PDF Louisa on the Front Lines Louisa May Alcott in the Civil War Samantha Seiple 9781580058049 Books
Download As PDF : Louisa on the Front Lines Louisa May Alcott in the Civil War Samantha Seiple 9781580058049 Books
An eye-opening look at Little Women author Louisa May Alcott's time as a Civil War nurse, and the far-reaching implications her service had on her writing and her activism
Louisa on the Frontlines is the first narrative nonfiction book focusing on the least-known aspect of Louisa May Alcott's career - her time spent as a nurse during the Civil War. Though her service was brief, the dramatic experience was one that she considered pivotal in helping her write the beloved classic Little Women. It also deeply affected her tenuous relationship with her father, and inspired her commitment to abolitionism. Through it all, she kept a journal and wrote letters to her family and friends. These letters were published in the newspaper, and her subsequent book, Hospital Sketches spotlighted the dire conditions of the military hospitals and the suffering endured by the wounded soldiers she cared for. To this day, her work is considered a pioneering account of military nursing.
Alcott's time as an Army nurse in the Civil War helped her find her authentic voice--and cemented her foundational belief system. Louisa on the Frontlines reveals the emergence of this prominent feminist and abolitionist--a woman whose life and work has inspired millions and continues to do so today,
Download PDF Louisa on the Front Lines Louisa May Alcott in the Civil War Samantha Seiple 9781580058049 Books
"`Louisa May Alcott's first book was not "Little Women". In 1863, she published "Hospital Sketches", which was based on her nursing service at the Union Hotel Hospital in Washington DC. She only served for six weeks before getting sick and leaving DC for home in Massachusetts, but those six weeks were enough to give her the experience to write about.. It is this service that Samantha Seiple writes about in her new book, "Louisa on the Front Lines: Louisa May Alcott in the Civil War".
"Lu" Alcott was about 30 when the Civil War began. She never married and was happy with her spinsterhood. She came from a loving family - four daughters - which was perpetually in a genteel poverty. Lu contributed to the family coffers by writing articles and stories, but in 1861 she decided she wanted to contribute to the Union war effort. She became a nurse - and in those days, nurses had to be aged 30plus and not married. She joined the staff at the Union Hotel Hospital in DC and saw the worst of the wounded and dying. Her letters to family and her diary were the basis for "Hospital Sketches". Samantha Seiple writes about Alcott's nursing service as well her life before and after. I didn't know much about Alcott's life and Seiple gives a superb view of her early to middle life - her travels, possible loves, and wartime service.
Samantha Seiple's writing is crystal clear and her shortish book was a pleasure to read"
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Tags : Louisa on the Front Lines Louisa May Alcott in the Civil War [Samantha Seiple] on . <b>An eye-opening look at Little Women</i> author Louisa May Alcott's time as a Civil War nurse, and the far-reaching implications her service had on her writing and her activism </b> Louisa on the Frontlines </i>is the first narrative nonfiction book focusing on the least-known aspect of Louisa May Alcott's career - her time spent as a nurse during the Civil War. Though her service was brief,Samantha Seiple,Louisa on the Front Lines Louisa May Alcott in the Civil War,Seal Press,1580058043,Alcott, Louisa May,Military nursing - United States - History - 19th century,United States - History - Civil War, 1861-1865 - Hospitals,United States - History - Civil War, 1861-1865 - Women,United States;History;Civil War, 1861-1865;Hospitals.,United States;History;Civil War, 1861-1865;Women.,Women authors, American - 19th century,Women authors, American;19th century;Biography.,BIOGRAPHY AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Literary Figures,Biography,GENERAL,General Adult,HISTORY / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877),HISTORY / Women,History,History/American,History/United States - Civil War Period (1850-1877),Medical/History,Medical/Military Medicine,Medical/Nursing - General,Non-Fiction,United States
Louisa on the Front Lines Louisa May Alcott in the Civil War Samantha Seiple 9781580058049 Books Reviews :
Louisa on the Front Lines Louisa May Alcott in the Civil War Samantha Seiple 9781580058049 Books Reviews
- This is a truncated summary of Louisa May Alcott's life, focusing on her very brief tenure as a nurse during the Civil War. The author used the nickname Lu in place of her full name in which to refer to Louisa. I found that usage to be overly familiar and very undignified. Seiple's work contributes nothing new nor significant to the canon of Alcott's life,in my opinion. Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.
- `Louisa May Alcott's first book was not "Little Women". In 1863, she published "Hospital Sketches", which was based on her nursing service at the Union Hotel Hospital in Washington DC. She only served for six weeks before getting sick and leaving DC for home in Massachusetts, but those six weeks were enough to give her the experience to write about.. It is this service that Samantha Seiple writes about in her new book, "Louisa on the Front Lines Louisa May Alcott in the Civil War".
"Lu" Alcott was about 30 when the Civil War began. She never married and was happy with her spinsterhood. She came from a loving family - four daughters - which was perpetually in a genteel poverty. Lu contributed to the family coffers by writing articles and stories, but in 1861 she decided she wanted to contribute to the Union war effort. She became a nurse - and in those days, nurses had to be aged 30plus and not married. She joined the staff at the Union Hotel Hospital in DC and saw the worst of the wounded and dying. Her letters to family and her diary were the basis for "Hospital Sketches". Samantha Seiple writes about Alcott's nursing service as well her life before and after. I didn't know much about Alcott's life and Seiple gives a superb view of her early to middle life - her travels, possible loves, and wartime service.
Samantha Seiple's writing is crystal clear and her shortish book was a pleasure to read - While not billed as a young adult non-fiction book, it does read like one, and in fact the author is a young adult writer. Nevertheless, the book is an excellent account of Louisa May Alcott's life as a Civil War nurse, her resulting illness and recovery, and how she came to write Little Women. The author cites LMA's diary/journal, along with other key figures' journals, to give insight into the character of Louisa and how it shaped who she was as an author, nurse, abolitionist, and suffragist. I was delighted to learn facts about her I had not known previously, and was fascinated by the people who surrounded and influenced her. She is someone who would easily fit in to today's so-called "age of the woman," and I'm sure would be among those women recently elected to Congress. She was ahead of her time; who knows what she could have accomplished today. A very good read.
- Many readers of literature like myself know Louisa May Alcott as the author of “Little Women.†She was born to a loving family; her mother and sisters bonded like true friends. But her journey for thirty-six years until Little Women was published was not smooth. She improvised a wardrobe from the ragbag to the later years; she witnessed the hardship of Marmee, her beloved mother who had borne the hard years so bravely, and a father immersed deeply in philosophy never understood the generally accepted paternal obligations. Young Louisa was encumbered with family responsibilities, moved with the frequency and restlessness. In her relatively short life of fifty-six years, she lived in her home state of Massachusetts, New York, and Europe as governess to Anna Weld, and a Grand Tour of her own with her sister.
One of the highlights of Alcott’s amazing life besides her work in literature was zeal for her beliefs that all people are born equal. She was an ardent abolitionist and fierce fighter for equal rights. The future of suffrage movement that paved the way for the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that granted American women the right to vote, a right commonly known as women's suffrage was born out of passion for equality in Alcott household. Louisa’s patriotism was reflected when she chose to volunteer to work as a nurse during the Civil War. Her coworkers included Walt Whitman and John Burroughs at the Union Hospital at Georgetown in Washington D.C. During her younger days in Massachusetts, she had the privilege of being in the illustrious company of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Frank Sanborn, Elizabeth Peabody, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Theodore Parker.
The study of Louisa May Alcott and her writings are illustrated in several books including John Matteson’s acclaimed book in 2007 that won the Pulitzer Prize; the 2009 PBS documentary Louisa May Alcott The Woman Behind “Little Women†directed by Nancy Porter; and the work of UNC professor Daniel Shealy. Many of the books including the current t book accounts for influence of Abigail Alcott, the mother of Louisa Alcott on Louisa’s thinking and writing. It is well known that Abigail was the model for Marmee in Little Women, and Alcott scholars have appreciated how she encouraged her daughter to become a writer and politically active for abolition, equality and women’s rights. In 1877, the New England Woman Suffrage Association campaigned to allow women to vote in local town meetings. Later the state of Massachusetts voted to pass the measure.
In this book, the author focuses on Louisa Alcott’s work as a nurse that highlighted the unacceptable conditions in military hospitals and the sufferings endured by the soldiers of civil war. The narrative method employed by the author is engaging to connect with her stories and sometimes breaks off too quickly. For example, Alcott’s relationship with Anna Weld ends abruptly in Switzerland. In the next paragraph we find she is flying to Paris. There are some interesting day-day incidents at the Switzerland hotel when Louisa Alcott comes to meet the Polk family from Tennessee. Colonel Andrew Polk one of the wealthiest plantation owners had fought for confederate army and badly wounded. The author’s work has a marked appreciation of Alcott’s work as a nurse. Considering many scholarly works on Alcott’s life, this work with reference to her career in nursing stands out as a distinct work of literature.
