Little Men follows the life of Jo Bhaer and the students who live and learn at Plumfield School that she runs with her husband, Professor Bhaer. The mischievous children, whom she loves and cares for as her own, learn valuable lessons as they grow to adulthood. Each student has his or her own struggles: Nat lies; Demi, is so nave that he finds it hard to live in the real world; Emil has a bad temper; Dan is rebellious and rude; Tommy is careless; Annie is too rambunctious; and Daisy is too prim. They all learn to cope with their faults as they grow into young men and women.
Louisa May Alcott, daughter of Amos Bronson Alcott, one of Emerson's circle of friends, was born in Philadelphia in 1832. Educated mainly by H. D. Thoreau and her father, Miss Alcott served as a hospital nurse during the Civil War. Her first book, Flower Fables, appeared in 1854, and her next work, Hospital Sketches (1863), consisted of her letters home from the Union Hospital during the war. She first gained a wide reputation with Little Women (1868-69), and her best subsequent work was done in the same field. Her chief publications after Little Women are the following: An Old-Fashioned Girl (1870), Little Men (1871), Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag (1871-79), Work (1873), Silver Pitchers (1876), Rose in Bloom (1876), Jo's Boys (1886), and A Garland for Girls (1887). Good Wives is the second part of Little Women. Miss Alcott died in 1888.
