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Learn moreSince its publication on September 30, 1868, Little Women has been one of America's favorite stories. While we now think of it as a girls' book, it was initially read by both boys and girls, men and women of all ages. Professor Anne Boyd Rioux, who read it in her twenties, tells us how Louisa May Alcott came to write the book and drew inspiration for her story from her own life. Its Civil War–era tale of family and community ties resonated through later wars, the Depression, and times of changing opportunities for women, even into the twenty-first century. Rioux sees the novel's beating heart in its honest look at adolescence and its inspiring vision of young women's resilience and hope. In gauging its reception today, she shows why it remains a book with such power that people carry its characters and spirit throughout their lives.
Anne Boyd Rioux, professor at the University of New Orleans, author of Constance Fenimore Woolson: Portrait of a Lady Novelist, and editor of Miss Grief and Other Stories, has received two National Endowment for the Humanities Awards, one for public scholarship. She lives in New Orleans.
Kimberly Farr began her acting career on television in Los Angeles. From there she moved on to theater in New York, where she appeared on and off-Broadway, including work at Circle in the Square, the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Roundabout, Playwright's Horizons, and the American Place. She created the role of "Eve" in Arthur Miller's first and only musical, Up From Paradise, which was directed by the author. She appeared as Vanessa Redgrave's step-daughter in the Broadway production of Ibsen's The Lady From the Sea, directed by Tony Richardson. She has also acted in regional theaters, including a stint in the original production of The 1940s Radio Hour at Washington DC's Arena Stage, and a revival of Accent on Youth, with Kathleen Quinlan at The Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut. Ms. Farr also has many television appearances to her credit, including a guest starring role on Star Trek: The Next Generation and a season on her own CBS series, Live-In. Her feature film credits include the classic Missing, starring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek. She is an award-winning audiobook narrator and has recorded over 100 titles, including books by Joan Didion, Alice Munro, Elizabeth Strout, Ann Tyler, Joseph J. Ellis, Ken Burns, Margaret Atwood, and Nora Roberts. Among her favorite titles was The Murderer's Ape, by Jakob Wegelius; the main character is a female gorilla named Sally Jones!