Frontierland...
America is a frontier nation...it is the element that gives
us our identity, and it runs as an invisible thread throughout our
history. From colonial days forward, the
United States has used westward as idea and a tool, and settlers were more than
willing to push farther, expand the country further, and create national
legend...
The pantheon of American frontier lore include names such as
Daniel Boone, David Crockett, James Bowie and Jedediah Smith...but there is one
other...one who escaped the Disney paintbrush that enshrined many of these
individuals...that name is Laura Ingalls-Wilder.
She was born on the frontier in 1867, lived it and wrote
about it. Although her story came out
late in her life...it has taken on breath of its own. She is perhaps the most famous frontier woman
in American history. Her story was published
between 1932 and 1971...nine books detailing her and her family's life on the
edge of America...and she even got her own television series to boot.
It can be argued that 20th century visual media lionized all these individuals, Ingalls-Wilder being no exception, and to some extent that is the whole truth...but there is also a piece of that fame that can be attributed to her written work, a prism in which we can glimpse daily life on the American frontier through the eyes of a young girl growing to womanhood on a vast sea of unknown, on a uncharted prairie, afloat on a ship of dreams, charting a course towards a romantic dream that would manifest itself in America's destiny...and the way Americans define themselves.
It can be argued that 20th century visual media lionized all these individuals, Ingalls-Wilder being no exception, and to some extent that is the whole truth...but there is also a piece of that fame that can be attributed to her written work, a prism in which we can glimpse daily life on the American frontier through the eyes of a young girl growing to womanhood on a vast sea of unknown, on a uncharted prairie, afloat on a ship of dreams, charting a course towards a romantic dream that would manifest itself in America's destiny...and the way Americans define themselves.
Laura Ingalls-Wilder published the first book in her life
story, Little House in the Big Woods
in 1932. Her last was published from a
draft that she had written prior to her death in 1957. This last book, The First Four Years came out in 1971. She also taught school for most of her life,
and you can see that profession bleeding through in her writing. Trying to acquire a 1932 first edition will
cost you...as with many first editions, they're not cheap. But there is an alternative. In 1953, a revised edition with new artwork
was released. This first edition is
reasonably priced and readily available on Amazon...and elsewhere.
Some might categorize Ingalls-Wilder's series of books as
children's literature, but I would disagree.
It is more of a historical record that works as classical
narrative...and transcends age.
While not a first edition facsimile...this book can be read
online at Gutenberg...just in case you can't wait for the book to arrive in the
mail...