I’ve been reading stories and novels by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) to understand what the popular culture of the 1860s,1870s, and 1880s was like. I could call it research for my historical work-in-progress, and it is that, but it’s also become something more.
Alcott first gained literary notice during the Civil War. In 1863, she published Hospital Sketches, a collection of stories about a volunteer’s experiences in a Washington, D.C., convalescent hospital for wounded Union soldiers. As serious as the subject was, Alcott also treated it with sympathetic humor, and she did it the right way by making herself the object of the jokes and comical situations.
To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.
Photograph: Louisa May Alcott about 1870.
Some Wednesday Readings
St. Olave’s, Hart Steet – A London Inheritance.
The Frenchman Who Dreamed Up the Olympics – Douglas Murray at The Free Press.
Dealing with Crime – Brian Miller at A South Roane Agrarian.
Fourteenth Amendment Day (July 28): Horace Flack, Champion of This Famous Reconstruction Amendment, Seems to Have Evolved in His Views of the Civil War and Its Aftermath – Max Longley at Emerging Civil War.
All About Creating Mysteries in a Novel – Nathan Bransford.
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