Caroline Fraser

I initially heard of this book through [a: Ana Mardoll|5757381|Ana Mardoll|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1519954093p2/5757381.jpg]'s liveread on Twitter (you can find it on her blog here) and was intrigued, so when I saw it as a "Lucky" read at my local library (meaning- cannot renew or put these copies on hold so it's 'lucky' that you can pick it up, usually hot new reads) I went for it.

Fraser's biography is one of the most thorough ones I've read- the last 25% of the book is end notes, mostly citations though there's the occasional added context- and it not only biographies Laura Ingalls Wilder but also her only child, Rose Wilder Lane.

And boy howdy, RWL is a pretty terrible person. Not just because she's a founding mother of Libertarianism, but also because she consistently plagiarizes, makes things up while calling it "truth" (because unlike facts, you can feel truth apparently?), and makes poor financial decisions while doubling down on how right she is. Some of Rose's biographers (see "The Ghost in the Little House") think RWL actually wrote the books, but in reality Rose acted as a secret editor of her mother's work before it was sent to the publishers, which is why as she got more political over time she inserted more jingoism into the later books.

Fraser's book also adds context to the actual events of Laura's childhood experiences. Though the books say the lands settlers claimed were devoid of people, there were very recently (forcibly) vacated by the Osage and the Dakota tribes, among other people. Pa Ingalls is his daughter's hero, yet he never successfully farmed any of his homestead attempts and later joined a populist party in response to the economic panics of the late 1800s. It's a layered thing (like pie) where propaganda by the railroads lured citizens out to attempt farming arid land caused much struggle which in turn became an inspirational tale of bootstraps under Wilder's pen.

Highly recommend if you've read the Little House books (I definitely went through a LH phase as a girl, even visiting the De Smet homestead and Plum Creek on a family road trip), or have an interest in the mythologizing of America's not-too-distant past. It definitely will color a reread, though (which I'll probably start).… (more)