Includes bibliographical references (p. [660]-739) and indexes.

Part one, 1636-1830: Amherst and the fathers -- Emily Norcross of Monson -- 1826-1828: winning Emily Norcross -- 1828-1830: shifting foundations -- Part two, 1830-1840: 1830-1835: a warm and anxious nest -- 1836-1840: the fire-stealer's girlhood -- Part three, 1840-1847: First years on West Street -- Amherst Academy -- Death and friendship -- Part four, 1847-1852: 1847-1848: Mount Holyoke Female Seminary -- 1848-1850: first drunkenness -- 1850-1852: somebody's rev-e-ries -- Part five, 1852-1858: 1852-1854: a sheltered life -- 1853-1855: news of the ancient school of true poets -- 1855-1858: troubles and riddles -- Part six, 1858-1865: 1858-1860: nothing's small -- 1860-1862: carrying and singing the heart's heavy freight -- 1862-1865: the fighting years -- Part seven, 1866-1886: 1866-1870: repose -- 1870-1878: wisdom that won't go stale -- 1878-1884: late adventures in friendship and love -- 1880-1886: exquisite containment -- Family charts -- Appendices: A second photography of Emily Dickinson? -- Standing buildings associated with Emily Dickinson -- Deaths from consumption (tuberculosis) -- Emily Dickinson's legal signatures -- Summary of corrected dates of letters.