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Prairie Fires : The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser (2017, Hardcover)
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- Buy it nowPrairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherHolt & Company, Henry
ISBN-101627792767
ISBN-139781627792769
eBay Product ID (ePID)239677279
Product Key Features
Book TitlePrairie Fires : the American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder
Number of Pages640 Pages
LanguageEnglish
TopicWomen, Literary, United States / General
Publication Year2017
IllustratorYes
GenreBiography & Autobiography, History
AuthorCaroline Fraser
FormatHardcover
Dimensions
Item Height1.6 in
Item Weight31.7 Oz
Item Length9.6 in
Item Width6.4 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceTrade
LCCN2017-028870
Dewey Edition23
Reviews"Unforgettable... A magisterial biography, which surely must be called definitive. Richly documented (it contains 85 pages of notes), it is a compelling, beautifully written story... One of the more interesting aspects of this wonderfully insightful book is its delineation of the fraught relationship between Wilder and her deeply disturbed, often suicidal daughter. But it is its marriage of biography and history--the latter providing such a rich context for the life--that is one of the great strengths of this indispensable book." --Booklist (starred review) "At last, an unsentimental examination of Laura Ingalls Wilder's real life on the frontier. Caroline Fraser rescues Wilder from frontier myth and gives us the gritty, passionate woman who endured the harshest experiences of homesteading, loved the Great Plains, and was devastated by their ultimate ruin and loss. Elegantly written and impeccably researched, Prairie Fires is a major contribution to environmental history and literary biography." --Linda Lear, author of Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature and Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature "A fantastic book. We've long understood the Little House series to be a great American story, but Caroline Fraser brings it unprecedented new context, as she masterfully chronicles the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family alongside the complicated history of our nation. Prairie Fires represents a significant milestone in our understanding of Wilder's life, work, and legacy." --Wendy McClure, author of The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie "In the twenty-first century, the tense and secret authorial partnership between Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter Rose Wilder Lane has emerged as the most complex and fascinating psychological saga of mother-daughter collaboration in American literary history. Caroline Fraser's deeply researched and stimulating biography analyzes their controversial relationship and places Wilder's influential fiction in the contexts of other myths of pioneer women and the frontier." --Elaine Showalter, author of A Jury of Her Peers and The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe "Engrossing... Exhilarating... Lovers of the series will delight in learning about real-life counterparts to classic fictional episodes, but, as Fraser emphasizes, the true story was often much harsher. Meticulously tracing the Ingalls and Wilder families' experiences through public records and private documents, Fraser discovers failed farm ventures and constant money problems, as well as natural disasters even more terrifying and devastating in real life than in Wilder's writing. She also helpfully puts Wilder's narrow world into larger historical context." -- Publishers Weekly, Praise for God's Perfect Child "Eye-opening . . . The most powerful and persuasive attack on Christian Science to have been written in this century." --Los Angeles Times Book Review "A work of impassioned rationality . . . Important and profoundly disturbing." --Newsday "Startling . . . Fraser has an eye and ear for the kind of detail that can help readers make up their own minds about an always-controversial American religious expression." --The Boston Globe "Penetrating . . . A work of compelling skepticism and scholarship." --The New Yorker "Splendid." --The New York Times, "Unforgettable... A magisterial biography, which surely must be called definitive. Richly documented (it contains 85 pages of notes), it is a compelling, beautifully written story... One of the more interesting aspects of this wonderfully insightful book is its delineation of the fraught relationship between Wilder and her deeply disturbed, often suicidal daughter. But it is its marriage of biography and history--the latter providing such a rich context for the life--that is one of the great strengths of this indispensable book." --Booklist (starred review) "A fantastic book. We've long understood the Little House series to be a great American story, but Caroline Fraser brings it unprecedented new context, as she masterfully chronicles the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family alongside the complicated history of our nation. Prairie Fires represents a significant milestone in our understanding of Wilder's life, work, and legacy." --Wendy McClure, author of The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie "Meticulously researched, feelingly told, Prairie Fires is the definitive biography of a major writer who did so much to mold public perceptions of the Western frontier. Once again, Caroline Fraser has shown that she is a master of the careful art of sifting a life, finding meaning in the large and small events that shaped an iconic American figure. Prairie Fires is a magnificent contribution to the literature of the West." --Hampton Sides, author of Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West "At last, an unsentimental examination of Laura Ingalls Wilder's real life on the frontier. Caroline Fraser rescues Wilder from frontier myth and gives us the gritty, passionate woman who endured the harshest experiences of homesteading, loved the Great Plains, and was devastated by their ultimate ruin and loss. Elegantly written and impeccably researched, Prairie Fires is a major contribution to environmental history and literary biography." --Linda Lear, author of Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature and Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature "In the twenty-first century, the tense and secret authorial partnership between Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter Rose Wilder Lane has emerged as the most complex and fascinating psychological saga of mother-daughter collaboration in American literary history. Caroline Fraser's deeply researched and stimulating biography analyzes their controversial relationship and places Wilder's influential fiction in the contexts of other myths of pioneer women and the frontier." --Elaine Showalter, author of A Jury of Her Peers and The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe "Engrossing... Exhilarating... Lovers of the series will delight in learning about real-life counterparts to classic fictional episodes, but, as Fraser emphasizes, the true story was often much harsher. Meticulously tracing the Ingalls and Wilder families' experiences through public records and private documents, Fraser discovers failed farm ventures and constant money problems, as well as natural disasters even more terrifying and devastating in real life than in Wilder's writing. She also helpfully puts Wilder's narrow world into larger historical context." -- Publishers Weekly, "An absorbing new biography [that] deserves recognition as an essential text.... For anyone who has drifted into thinking of Wilder''s ''Little House'' books as relics of a distant and irrelevant past, reading Prairie Fires will provide a lasting cure.... Meanwhile, ''Little House'' devotees will appreciate the extraordinary care and energy Fraser devotes to uncovering the details of a life that has been expertly veiled by myth." -- The New York Times Book Review (front page) "The definitive biography... Magisterial and eloquent... A rich, provocative portrait." --Minneapolis Star Tribune "Impressive... Prairie Fires could not have been published at a more propitious time in our national life." -- The New Republic "Unforgettable... A magisterial biography, which surely must be called definitive. Richly documented (it contains 85 pages of notes), it is a compelling, beautifully written story.... One of the more interesting aspects of this wonderfully insightful book is its delineation of the fraught relationship between Wilder and her deeply disturbed, often suicidal daughter." --Booklist (starred review) "A fantastic book. We''ve long understood the Little House series to be a great American story, but Caroline Fraser brings it unprecedented new context, as she masterfully chronicles the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family alongside the complicated history of our nation. Prairie Fires represents a significant milestone in our understanding of Wilder''s life, work, and legacy." --Wendy McClure, author of The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie "Meticulously researched, feelingly told, Prairie Fires is the definitive biography of a major writer who did so much to mold public perceptions of the Western frontier. Once again, Caroline Fraser has shown that she is a master of the careful art of sifting a life, finding meaning in the large and small events that shaped an iconic American figure. Prairie Fires is a magnificent contribution to the literature of the West." --Hampton Sides, author of Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West "At last, an unsentimental examination of Laura Ingalls Wilder''s real life on the frontier. Caroline Fraser rescues Wilder from frontier myth and gives us the gritty, passionate woman who endured the harshest experiences of homesteading, loved the Great Plains, and was devastated by their ultimate ruin and loss. Elegantly written and impeccably researched, Prairie Fires is a major contribution to environmental history and literary biography." --Linda Lear, author of Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature and Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature "In the twenty-first century, the tense and secret authorial partnership between Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter Rose Wilder Lane has emerged as the most complex and fascinating psychological saga of mother-daughter collaboration in American literary history. Caroline Fraser''s deeply researched and stimulating biography analyzes their controversial relationship and places Wilder''s influential fiction in the contexts of other myths of pioneer women and the frontier." --Elaine Showalter, author of A Jury of Her Peers and The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe "Engrossing... Exhilarating... Lovers of the series will delight in learning about real-life counterparts to classic fictional episodes, but, as Fraser emphasizes, the true story was often much harsher. Meticulously tracing the Ingalls and Wilder families'' experiences through public records and private documents, Fraser discovers failed farm ventures and constant money problems, as well as natural disasters even more terrifying and devastating in real life than in Wilder''s writing. She also helpfully puts Wilder''s narrow world into larger historical context." -- Publishers Weekly, "An absorbing new biography [that] deserves recognition as an essential text for getting a grip on the dynamics and consequences of this vast literary enterprise.... For anyone who has drifted into thinking of Wilder''s ''Little House'' books as relics of a distant and irrelevant past, reading Prairie Fires will provide a lasting cure.... Meanwhile, ''Little House'' devotees will appreciate the extraordinary care and energy Fraser devotes to uncovering the details of a life that has been expertly veiled by myth." -- The New York Times Book Review "The definitive biography... Magisterial and eloquent... A rich, provocative portrait." --Star Tribune "Unforgettable... A magisterial biography, which surely must be called definitive. Richly documented (it contains 85 pages of notes), it is a compelling, beautifully written story.... One of the more interesting aspects of this wonderfully insightful book is its delineation of the fraught relationship between Wilder and her deeply disturbed, often suicidal daughter. But it is its marriage of biography and history--the latter providing such a rich context for the life--that is one of the great strengths of this indispensable book." --Booklist (starred review) "A fantastic book. We''ve long understood the Little House series to be a great American story, but Caroline Fraser brings it unprecedented new context, as she masterfully chronicles the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family alongside the complicated history of our nation. Prairie Fires represents a significant milestone in our understanding of Wilder''s life, work, and legacy." --Wendy McClure, author of The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie "Meticulously researched, feelingly told, Prairie Fires is the definitive biography of a major writer who did so much to mold public perceptions of the Western frontier. Once again, Caroline Fraser has shown that she is a master of the careful art of sifting a life, finding meaning in the large and small events that shaped an iconic American figure. Prairie Fires is a magnificent contribution to the literature of the West." --Hampton Sides, author of Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West "At last, an unsentimental examination of Laura Ingalls Wilder''s real life on the frontier. Caroline Fraser rescues Wilder from frontier myth and gives us the gritty, passionate woman who endured the harshest experiences of homesteading, loved the Great Plains, and was devastated by their ultimate ruin and loss. Elegantly written and impeccably researched, Prairie Fires is a major contribution to environmental history and literary biography." --Linda Lear, author of Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature and Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature "In the twenty-first century, the tense and secret authorial partnership between Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter Rose Wilder Lane has emerged as the most complex and fascinating psychological saga of mother-daughter collaboration in American literary history. Caroline Fraser''s deeply researched and stimulating biography analyzes their controversial relationship and places Wilder''s influential fiction in the contexts of other myths of pioneer women and the frontier." --Elaine Showalter, author of A Jury of Her Peers and The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe "Engrossing... Exhilarating... Lovers of the series will delight in learning about real-life counterparts to classic fictional episodes, but, as Fraser emphasizes, the true story was often much harsher. Meticulously tracing the Ingalls and Wilder families'' experiences through public records and private documents, Fraser discovers failed farm ventures and constant money problems, as well as natural disasters even more terrifying and devastating in real life than in Wilder''s writing. She also helpfully puts Wilder''s narrow world into larger historical context." -- Publishers Weekly
Dewey Decimal813.52
Table Of ContentA Note on Quotations xiii Map . xiv Introduction . 1 On the Frontier 9 Part I: The Pioneer 1. Maiden Rock . 27 2. Indian Summers . 44 3. Crying Hard Times . 66 4. God Hates a Coward 93 5. Don't Leave the Farm, Boys . 133 Part II: The Exile 6. A World Made . 179 7. As a Farm Woman Thinks 220 8. The Absent Ones 264 9. Pioneer Girl . 302 Part III: The Dream 10. A Ruined Country 327 11. Dusty Old Dust . 370 12. We Are All Here 398 13. Sunshine and Shadow . 441 14. There Is Gold in the Farm 486 Epilogue 509 Notes 517 Acknowledgments . 603 Index . 609
SynopsisWINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW 'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR The first comprehensive historical biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the beloved author of the Little House on the Prairie books Millions of readers of Little House on the Prairie believe they know Laura Ingalls--the pioneer girl who survived blizzards and near-starvation on the Great Plains, and the woman who wrote the famous autobiographical books. But the true saga of her life has never been fully told. Now, drawing on unpublished manuscripts, letters, diaries, and land and financial records, Caroline Fraser--the editor of the Library of America edition of the Little House series--masterfully fills in the gaps in Wilder's biography. Revealing the grown-up story behind the most influential childhood epic of pioneer life, she also chronicles Wilder's tumultuous relationship with her journalist daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, setting the record straight regarding charges of ghostwriting that have swirled around the books. The Little House books, for all the hardships they describe, are paeans to the pioneer spirit, portraying it as triumphant against all odds. But Wilder's real life was harder and grittier than that, a story of relentless struggle, rootlessness, and poverty. It was only in her sixties, after losing nearly everything in the Great Depression, that she turned to children's books, recasting her hardscrabble childhood as a celebratory vision of homesteading--and achieving fame and fortune in the process, in one of the most astonishing rags-to-riches episodes in American letters. Spanning nearly a century of epochal change, from the Indian Wars to the Dust Bowl, Wilder's dramatic life provides a unique perspective on American history and our national mythology of self-reliance. With fresh insights and new discoveries, Prairie Fires reveals the complex woman whose classic stories grip us to this day.
LC Classification NumberPS3545.I342Z6455
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Most relevant reviews
- 12 Oct, 2019
A Great Book
I have read all the Little House books and some more books by different authors. I always felt it was not the whole picture of her life. this book "Prairie Fire" answers the rest, the real reality. It is very well laid out. A must read.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 19 Feb, 2019
Laura's Life
This book is an absolute must for fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I'm referring to the real life Laura, not the silly, fabricated Hollywood television series. All those little voids of her life, beyond the books and into her later years, are filled in with an immense amount of information and detail, and all substantially annotated.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 10 Jul, 2022
Rich and broad in its detail and research
Bought this for the girlfriend. She's a HUGE "little house" fan. She absolutely adores this book. She says that it really fleshes out the far-reaching story of the Ingalls-Wilder family. (I also bought her the Little House Cookbook, which she also loves)Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 14 Aug, 2019
Perfect title!
I read this book from my local Library, loved it and knew I wanted it for my own collection.! I feel very lucky to have found one on ebay in such good condition.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 16 Oct, 2018
Don't hesitate, just buy it!
This read is compelling. I feel I've learned more about the history of the times than ever before. Yet the book reads easily like the writings of LIW. These are the facts, without bias. Highly recommend.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 09 Oct, 2018
The reality behind the fiction.
What was going on in the country politically and economically at the time of the Little House books. Fascinating!Verified purchase: YesCondition: New
- 03 Jul, 2018
Little House from Ma's viewpoint.
This is a very well written book--"Little House" from Ma's viewpoint. Very well researched regarding woman's issues of the times.Verified purchase: YesCondition: New
- 26 Jun, 2019
Dry As Dust
Dry as dust. I love Laura Ingalls Wilder, but this book was hard to read.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 27 Jun, 2018
Great books
She really like the booksVerified purchase: YesCondition: New
- 26 Dec, 2022
Interesting
I just started reading this book and I can't hardly put it down.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
