"In this richly annotated, illustrated edition, Daniel Shealy illuminates the novel's deep engagement with issues such as social equality, reform movements, the Civil War, friendship, love, loss, and of course the passage into adulthood. The editor provides running commentary on biographic contexts, social and historical contexts, literary allusions, and words likely to cause difficulty to modern readers. With Shealy as a guide, we appreciate anew the confusions and difficulties that beset the March sisters as they overcome their burdens and journey toward maturity and adulthood. This edition examines the novel's central question: How does one grow up well?--