Susan Cheever

A revisionist profile of the author of "Little Women" and other classics draws on extensive research using Alcott's journals and correspondence to cover such topics as her embrace of untraditional roles and her early death.

We've all felt the giddy flutter of excitement when our new lover walks into the room. Waited by the phone, changed our plans...But are we in love, or is there something darker at work? In Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction, Susan Cheever explores the shifting boundaries between the feelings of passion and addiction, desire and need, and she raises provocative and important questions about who we love and why. Elegantly written and thoughtfully...

Presents an exploration of the history of drinking in the United States, discussing how alcohol has shaped American history and character from the seventeenth century to the present. Cheever chronicles our national love affair with liquor, taking a long, thoughtful look at the way alcohol has changed our nation's history. From the drunkenness of the Pilgrims to Prohibition hijinks, drinking has always been a way to celebrate and a way to grieve and...

"After the success of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott brought her genius for characterization and eye for detail to a series of revolutionary novels and stones remarkable for their forthright assertion of women's rights. In the largely autobiographical Work: A Story of Experience, twenty-one-war-old orphan Christie Devon announces 'a new Declaration of Independence' and pursues economic self-sufficiency through a variety of jobs: servant, actress,...