On a spring evening in early April, Concord’s creative community gathered under a starscape of giant whimsical poppies decorating the ceiling of The Umbrella Arts Center for an event that celebrated the arts and honored the acclaimed author of Wicked and a long-time Concord resident, Gregory Maguire. There was much to celebrate as Maguire is actively supporting the rollout of a film adaptation of Wicked, as well as touring for his fifth book in the Wicked series, Elphie.
As tensions between the North and South increased throughout the 1850s, Ralph Waldo Emerson, like many Americans, was becoming more resigned to the prospect of civil war. He was convinced that the “insanity” of the South’s attachment to slavery would soon tear the nation apart.
Concord, MA, has been known since the 19th century for its celebrated writers. Names like Thoreau, Alcott, Hawthorne, and Emerson have been joined by Kearns Goodwin, Maguire, Lightman, and others. This spring, several of Concord’s modern-day authors have new books that you won’t want to miss. Head to Barrow Bookstore, the Concord Book Shop, or the Concord Free Public Library and get to know our hometown authors. You may even find a signed copy to add to your library!
The First Online Thoreau Conference, if briefly presented, could be described as a collaborative effort between students, scholars, and educators based in Brazil, who are dedicated to the study and outreach of Henry David Thoreau’s work. However, such a description wouldn’t do much justice to the interconnectedness of readers of Thoreau across the globe.
Of all the writers and philosophers who influenced the New England Transcendentalists, none had a bigger impact than Thomas Carlyle. Born in Scotland in 1795, as an essayist, historian, and philosopher, Carlyle had a profound influence on the 19th century, not just in the United Kingdom, but also in America, particularly with the writers in Concord, Massachusetts.
Virtually every member of the Transcendentalist circle read Carlyle’s writings with great enthusiasm; Bronson Alcott, Orestes Brownson, Theodore Parker, William Henry Channing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Frederic Henry Hedge, George Ripley, and Henry Thoreau all drew inspiration from Carlyle. In particular, it was his writings on Germanic literature that lit a flame under the Transcendentalists.
By 1845, the careers of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe were on very different tracks. Hawthorne was a struggling writer living in Concord, Massachusetts, while Poe was in New York City, a celebrated writer and literary critic known around the country. Yet, in the 1840s, the two men’s careers became briefly entwined.
There is something about this small town that continues to draw magnetic personalities who shape our country over and over. One such luminary is Doris Kearns Goodwin – Pulitzer Prize-winning author, respected presidential historian, and wife of the internationally acclaimed presidential speechwriter, the late Richard (Dick) Goodwin. Together, this inspirational couple witnessed the turbulent events of the 1960s and worked hard to do their part in shaping a more positive outcome for future generations.
Max Chapnick, of Northeastern University, has been in the news lately for possibly uncovering another of Louisa May Alcott’s pseudonyms. I was delighted to meet Max, not only to discuss his current work, but also to talk about the long, winding trail he followed to determine if Jo March’s thriller writing was something Alcott actually did. That trail begins in 1942 with Madeleine Stern and Leona Rostenberg, two of the most extraordinary women I’ve ever met.
There’s nothing like getting wrapped up in a good cozy mystery. For the Agatha Christie lover, true crimes close to home are particularly enlivening. At Concord’s Old Manse Museum, home of the famous Emerson family and witness house to two revolutions, there lurks an unsolved puzzler.
The test of a true classic is its longevity and influence. Louisa May Alcott could never have imagined that Little Women, the novel for girls she didn’t want to write, would have such an impact.
