The article at History News Network, the link to which Kevin Mac Donnell
refers, casts serious doubt on Thomas Beer's credibility.  Beverly Lyon
Clark in her book _The Afterlife of Little Women_ (John Hopkins University
Press, 2014) states: "Indeed, critics have recently discovered that letters
that Beer elsewhere attributes to Stephen Crane are fabricated. It seems
likely that the Alcott comment is too."

Scholars may question Beer's motivations and just how many such
other cases of false attribution can be found in his work..  But it
certainly appears to be an intentional case of putting poison in the
academic water.

Barb