Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
2010
Citation
Great Plains Quarterly 30:1 (Winter 2010)
Abstract
In his third book on Laura Ingalls Wilder, John E. Miller presents another fascinating study of this most cherished writer and her times. Miller weighs in on a number of the continuing controversies surrounding Wilder's books, foremost among them the question of how the Little House books were authored. He also enters into the continuing debate on the racial politics of Wilder's writing, especially in Little House on the Prairie, that has become the focus of many newer studies of Wilder's work. Miller presents Wilder and daughter Rose Wilder Lane as products of their respective times, showing how during the Great Depression both Wilder and, especially, Lane positioned themselves in opposition to FDR's New Deal with their increasingly libertarian politics. In composing these essays, Miller draws from a number of primary and secondary source materials, including letters exchanged between mother and daughter, Lane's letters to friends, Lane's journal, Wilder's farm journalism, and a considerable body of Wilder-Lane scholarship. Admirable here is the depth of Miller's research and a writing style that will engage both an academic audience and Wilder aficionados.
Comments
Copyright 2013 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln