A Little House Sampler - Hardcover

Wilder, Laura Ingalls; Lane, Rose Wilder

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0803210221 ISBN 13: 9780803210226

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, 1988

Synopsis

Beloved by generations of readers for the books that inspired the popular television series Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder was the mother of Rose Wilder Lane, famous in the 1920s and '30s and now being rediscovered as the author of such novels as Free Land and Old Home Town. It was Rose who encouraged Laura to begin her writing career when she was in her sixties. William T. Anderson has brought together dozens of their autobiographical writings from old newspapers and magazines, and has included some material never before published, in A Little House Sampler. Arranged chronologically, with introductions by Anderson, these articles, short stories, essays, and poems tell the story of Laura's life from her pioneer girlhood in Wisconsin to her old age, when admirers beat a path to the door of her Missouri farmhouse. Rose's life unfolds in these pages as she describes her early memories of Dakota Territory, her departure from the family farm in the Ozarks to pursue a big-city career, and her later literary use of the old home place. As the generations pass in the Sampler, the topics change from log cabins to English-style Ozark cottages, from covered wagons to Buicks, from feeding chickens to writing for the Country Gentleman — but always they reveal the individual viewpoints of two strong-minded, high-spirited women.

About this title

About the Author:

William T. Anderson is a foremost authority on Wilder and Lane. He publishes the newsletter Wilder Lore and has written award-winning articles and a biographical series on the Ingalls and Wilder families.

From Publishers Weekly:

In this chronological arrangement of their autobiographical writings, gathered from many sources, including newspapers, magazines and abandoned manuscripts, we view the literary careers of a mother and daughter who carried on the family tradition of storytelling. Laura Ingalls Wilder, whose prairie girlhood and travels in the Dakota Territory in the early 1880s became the foundation for nine popular Little House books and the long-running Little House on the Prairie TV series, began her professional career, at the insistence of her daughter, when she was in her 60s. Although she departed from the much-loved family farm in the Ozarks to forge a literary career in New York, daughter Rose ( Free Land , Old Home Town ) drew on her early memories as well. Laura's writings promote the virtues and happiness to be found in hard work and simple things. Rose's fiction does not evade the harsh realities of homesteading or the difficulties encountered by her undeniably happy parents. In the various genres represented herearticles and essays, stories and poemsone hears again the voices of the last pioneering families. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0803210221
• ISBN 13: 9780803210226
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256