Louisa May Alcott is an unexpected inhabitant in the world of magazine editing. Her name is better known as the author of Little Women (1868-1869) and other children's stories, and her novels are now as often scrutinized by social historians as they are read with tears and laughter by youngsters. Alcott did edit a magazine, however, in the course of her long and varied career.

The second of the four daughters of Amos Bronson and Abigail May Alcott, Louisa May Alcott was born on 29 November 1832 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, where her father kept a school. Bronson Alcott was a philosopher who rarely found remunerative employment, and Louisa's childhood was one of quiet poverty and hard work. Bronson's connection with the Transcendentalist movement in New England assured that Louisa and her sisters were immersed in literature and philosophy from youth, and he haphazardly taught them at home what other children...