International Women’s month goes on! There’s a terrific website called Kidlit Celebrates Women’s History Month – they asked me to contribute a post about Louisa May Alcott. I wrote about her service in the Civil War.  What I didn’t mention in the post is that when Louisa was ill with typhoid the doctors dosed her with mercury — a common remedy at the time.  Most scholars believe that Louisa’s early death at 56 was due to heavy metal poisoning — so she continued to sacrafice for her country. Check out the blog post here.

An illustration from Hospital Sketches in 1892. This was Louisa's fictionalized memoir of her time as a hospital nurse.

I’ve written a post about Louisa May Alcott’s particular practical feminism. Check it out at E. Kristin Anderson’s blog, Write All the Words. I talk about the real life Marmee and Louisa’s relationship with her.

The true life "Marmee!"