SARAH WAY SHERMAN is an associate professor of English and American studies at the University of New Hampshire.
“Two eminent writers―Louisa May Alcott and Edith Wharton―are the focus of this study about the struggle between moral and material values in American culture. Sherman’s analysis of Little Women and The House of Mirth makes clear how both novels rework Protestant discourse. Her connections between these writers and texts are original, penetrating, and illuminating. . . . Professor Sherman has produced meritorious, well-researched study that will permanently change readers’ understanding of Little Women and The House of Mirth.”--Carol Singley, professor of English, Rutgers University–Camden
“This is a very fine reading of Alcott’s Little Women and Wharton’s The House of Mirth, two novels that have been much analyzed, but the author has a number of illuminating insights no one else has made. . . . Even readers who know both novels well will be enlightened by such an insightful reading, and for those who don’t know the novels, this is a perfect introduction to them.”
--Elsa Nettels, Mildred and J. B. Hickman Professor of English and Humanities, Emerita, College of William and Mary