American Bloomsbury

By: Susan Cheever

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Here is a brilliant, controversial, and fascinating biography of those who were, in the mid-19th century, at the center of American thought and literature.

It was an eclectic cast of characters. At various times in Concord, Massachusetts, three houses on the same road were home to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry and John Thoreau, Bronson Alcott and his daughter Louisa May, Nathanial Hawthorne, and Margaret Fuller. Among their friends and neighbors were Henry James, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Edgar Allen Poe, and others - men and women are at the heart of American idealism.

We may think of them as static daguerreotypes, but in fact, these men and women fell desperately in and out of love with each other, edited each other's work, discussed and debated ideas and theories all night long, and walked arm in arm under Concord's great elms - all of which creates a thrilling story.

It was America's equivalent to England's Bloomsbury. American Bloomsbury explores how, exactly, Concord developed into the first American community devoted to literature and original ideas - ideas that, to this day, define our beliefs about environmentalism and conservation, and about the glorious importance of the individual self.

©2006 Susan Cheever (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.

Critic reviews

"Beguiling....[a] lively and insightful introduction to the personalities and achievements of the men and women who were seminal figures in America's literary renaissance...[Cheever] keenly analyzes the positive and negative ways they influenced one another's ideas and beliefs and the literature that came out of 'this sudden outbreak of genius'." (Publishers Weekly)

Where the classics came from

I enjoyed taking a trip, back, in time, to read about the authors that I read, as a kid, as a teenager, and as an adult. For example, I read Little Women, in fourth grade, The Scarlet Letter, in high school, and some, of Thoreau, and Emerson's essays, this year.

A good overview, but with some problems

I was forewarned by the other reviewers that this book contains some factual errors, but as I knew little about the lives of Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne and Alcott, and was unaware of Margaret Fuller until I listened to this book, I found this audiobook was a good introduction and overview of these writers and their stories. There are some very good passages in this book, for example where Cheever looks at the significance and resonance of Thoreau's Walden, but there are also some passages that seemed out of place. For some reason, Cheever wanted to introduce a memoir-style element into the text by occasionally discussing her own experiences with the places where the Transcendentalists traveled and wrote. Yet these interjections didn't add anything to the understanding of the writers, and often were banal or even bathetic. When Cheever complains that Concord doesn't look like she pictured it from reading about it as it was 150 years ago, I felt like shouting, "Well, what did you expect?!!" The closing passage, in which she imagines still meeting Emerson or Thoreau on the streets of Concord, was trite and self-indulgent. Even so, these digressions were relatively brief and don't prevent the book from being a good overview of its subject matter.

How a town spawned an American philosophy

We listened to this on one long drive. We’re familiar with the Transcendentlaists, but enjoyed how the author shows how a town, Concord, came together as a community to spawn this very
American way of thought. I particularly enjoyed how the author could continuously seam together a patchwork quilt of lives and ideas. The characters come alive, and unlike other biographies, notice is paid to the women and, children. I had read this before we listened to the audio, but we also enjoyed the fine reading of the narrator. My husband might have liked more reference to the dialogue with the science developing at Harvard, but agrees this was not in the scope of the book, and as a transcendentlaist scholar himself, he was impressed by the book and cheever’s telling. And sue, if you’re reading this, we were housemates at 87 prospect st!

A good number of factual errors

So, on the good side- you get the full cast of these Concord writers. On the downside there are a good number of factual errors, and some untruths or exaggerations

I don’t doubt the author might have had the replica Thoreau cabin to themselves for a few minutes- but Walden in the Summer is extremely busy and the cabin is steps from the parking lot. It’s not “empty” or “not often visited” in anyway shape or form. It’s not large, and is easy to take in in a minute or two- but thousands upon thousands visit each year.

In another section, it’s said Thoreau could not find a publisher for “A Week on the Merrimack” which is certainly not true. It didn’t sell well, and Thoreau did buy back the remainders- but it was never “self published”. The author seems to know the whole story and how the extra copies lived in Thoreau’s basement so I’m not sure why this easily checked fact was written or made it by an editor.

It’s gossipy in parts- suggesting relationships, crushes, and possible affairs left an right. Perhaps there was a lot of mutual attraction in this small knit group but I wonder how much is factual and how much is speculation.

Good background and kind of gossipy

If you are interested in the Concord Transcendentalists, this book brings them to life.

Decent intro to 1840's Concord

This is a well-publicized work by a well-known author (daughter of John Cheever); I picked it up after hearing a few interviews with the author on various NPR shows. It coincided with the interest I already had in the Transcendentalists.
I would recommend this title with some BIG caveats. As many have pointed out, there are several quite glaring factual errors in the book. (Please see the Amazon.com reviews for this title if you'd like more details about this)
The overall tone is light, chatty, even dishy and gossippy, and much more time is spent on the love lives and intrigues among the Hawthornes, Emersons, Thoreau brothers, Alcotts, Margaret Fuller, et al, than their lives of thought and literary output that was so profoundly influential to everything that followed in American culture.
OK, that having been said, I do think Cheever gets right a very superficial overview of the Concord group. It's a decent introduction for the absolute beginner. It's also appreciated that she gives equal weight to the women of the circle (which some other even contemporary books on this subject do not).
I hope the listener will use this selection as an intro in that way, then move on to other more scholarly works (Robert Richardson's bios of Emerson and Thoreau, Geldard's books on the spiritual teachings of Emerson) and then the works of the residents of Concord themselves, an amazing cluster of authors and thinkers.

imaginative landscape for history narrative

As noted other reviews, this may not be interesting to those who already know much about the Concord writers, but since I was mostly ignorant, this narrative fascinated me and helped flesh out my outline knowledge of American literary, cultural and political history. As also noted in other reviews, the book's style is chatty, but I wasn't looking for a heavy read and enjoyed this aspect, too. Kate Reading is perfect for such narration. This is also the kind of history in which the author sometimes inserts herself or contemporary re-evaluations; she also spirals outward from her central narrative to touch on lives of others who intersected with her main characters, so she covers much ground in less than 7 hours. Depth suffers consequently and the cyclical storyline style necessarily leads to some repetition. Cheever did seem to get at the complicated soul of Thoreau, though, and really motivated me to read more about him. To me, this made a great companion read to Geraldine Brooks' novel, "March."

One discordant note that is struck a couple of times: Cheever often rightly underlines the oppression of women, even within the progressive Transcendentalists; however, in a couple of places she draws parallels to African American slavery, and there is no comparison in the degree of human bondage between the two. Cheever probably did not mean to imply this.

could be better, but not wasted time

I wanted more than just a soap opera about the Transcendentalists, and this was a bit more, but not a lot more. I enjoyed learning about these renowned figures as people, but would have liked to hear more about their philosophical and literary contributions as well. Still, it's the only book about the Transcendentalist community that is available on audiobook, so I suppose I should be grateful. And I'm not sorry I listened, I'm just left wanting more than I got.

A couple specific comments:

The portrayal of Louisa May Alcott is the most compelling part of the book. Cheever has written a biography of Alcott, and I suspect it is worth the read.

The chronological oddnesses mentioned by other reviewers are real. I wish Cheever had found a better way to address the problems of the interconnecting and overlapping lives. It would probably be less of an issue in a paper book.

Skips Nimbly Gathering Suspense

Ms. Cheever writes with much love for her material. She skips nimbly from person to person. I never lost track and all the stories tie together in a manner which was sometimes dramatic and suspenseful. I learned much and have now downloaded other books from the authors mentioned here. I can't wait to read this book again.

Excellent portrait

Highly recommended. Paints a detailed and entralling picture of a vital period in American thought and literature.