Bold Spirit: Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America

This biography is exactly the problem with women's history -- it is hidden. And it is hidden very overtly by the family, which makes the entire story very difficult to process. Helga Estby wrote down all her experiences and her daughters burned the papers. How awful for the next generations. This makes Hunt's research very difficult because she had to depend on secondary sources, and this leaves big gaps in the story. Who initiated the 'contest' and the even bigger question is why Helga Estby? Why was this proposed only to her and not open to the general public? We will probably never know the answers if Hunt couldn't ferret them out. Considering what the author had to work with this is an exceptional history of Victorian America and show more the regional differences that explain the varying degrees of support for women's issues. The book is filled with photographs which are delightful and stunning. Thanks to the second and third generations for saving them.
I could not put this book down and honor her spirit and tenacity. show less

Bold Spirit tells the fascinating story of Helga Estby, a Norwegian immigrant living in eastern Washington. Her family was beset by hard times, and she felt that she needed to take extreme measures to save the farm and keep her family from poverty. Someone offered her $10,000 if she would walk from Washington to New York City, wearing a radical short skirt ("short" meaning 5-8 inches off the ground). This was an era when doctors thought that women were weak and frail and not capable of walking even short distances. It was also an era when women didn't do things on their own, so Helga was criticized for leaving her husband and children behind.

What makes this story even more fascinating is that it was almost lost. The family was unhappy show more about Helga's extraordinary journey, and so they did everything they could to eradicate it from the family history. Helga could have gone down in history as one of the most important feminist figures of her era, but her family suppressed the story and its memory, and if not for a great-grandson's essay, which happened to land on an interested historian's desk, this story would have been totally lost. Hunt didn't have any first-hand accounts of the story - she had to recreate the journey based on newspaper accounts written as Helga traveled.

This is exactly what I think a history book for a popular audience should do: it focuses on an interesting small story (Helga and Clara's trans-continental walk), but uses that story as a springing-board to tell a bigger story about regional, national, and social history (the women's movement, the Bryan vs. McKinley presidential race, economic issues, etc.). Then, Hunt wraps the book up with some musings about the nature of history and about family history in general. The book even has a call to action to readers to make sure that their families' stories are not lost. All of this is told in an interesting, well-written style, and not over-dramatized. There are brief footnotes to back up quotes and other evidence.

My only criticism, from a historian's point of view, is that Hunt by necessity has to do a lot of conjecture about what Helga thought and felt, and although she sometimes makes it clear when she is conjecturing, I think she could provide a little more clarity about just how little we actually know about Helga and what was going on in her head. Hunt creates a strong personality for Helga, and although I'm sure this personality came from the records Hunt read, I wish she had been a bit more clear about how she came to her conclusions about what Helga was thinking. show less

How can a story of a woman and her daughter walking across the country in 1897 nearly have been lost to history?
Author Linda Lawrence Hunt does an amazing job bringing this story to our awareness. There's heartbreak at almost every turn - not the least of which is that the letters and Helga Estby's autobiography telling of her adventures which would have been so fascinating were destroyed by her family who were ashamed of her for undertaking such an "unfeminine" adventure. The fact that Hunt manages to flesh out the story, including what led up to Helga's decision and the backdrop against which it unfolded, is a credit to her researching skills.

In 1896, a 36-year-old Norwegian immigrant named Helga Estby set out with her 18-year-old daughter, Clara, to walk from Spokane, Washington, to New York City, in hopes of winning a $10,000 cash prize. She wanted to use the winnings to prevent foreclosure on the family’s Washington farm and to provide a more secure life for herself, her husband, and their eight children.

[Bold Spirit] is the story of that walk – of the culture that formed Estby, of the personal and national events that led to the family’s distress, of the changing roles of American women as the Victorian era waned, and of the societal norms that nearly resulted in the story disappearing from the pages of history.

It’s a huge, complex, and ultimately distressing show more story, and one that Hunt keeps firmly within the realm of scholarship, which is probably the book’s biggest flaw. Like Lauren Kessler’s [Stubborn Twig], which dealt with a Japanese-American family’s internment during World War II, Bold Spirit is essentially stripped of its inherent drama and keeps the reader firmly at arm’s length.

There’s still a lot to digest here, though it takes some reading between the lines. The story is worth knowing, and Hunt’s retelling simply cracks open the door. One hopes a writer who is as interested in the heart of this amazing woman as in the journey she made will revisit this rich and multi-faceted American tale. show less

Hunt's book chronicles Helga and her daughter Clara's walk from Spokane, Washington to New York City in 1896. Never heard of it? Neither had I, and there's a reason for that.

After the crash of 1893, times were hard. The Estbys (both Norwegian
immigrants) were behind on taxes and the mortgage. They had eight children
to feed. Helga's husband was injured and unable to work. Helga learned that
a mysterious sponsor would pay $10,000 to a woman who walked across America.
She knew that this was the only way to save their farm, put food on the
table, and pay for their children's schooling. (She was a firm believer in
higher education.)

Helga and Clara set out on a trip that would pass through fourteen
states--Indian reservations, Western boom towns, show more remote ranches and local
civic leaders. They would experience snowstorms, hunger, thieves and
mountain lions. They were armed with little more than a compass, red pepper
spray, a revolver and Clara's curling iron. According to the terms of the
sponsor, they were not allowed to carry more than $5 each and were expected
to earn their way across the country while not taking any other mode of
transportation than "shank's mare".

Their treacherous and inspirational journey challenged contemporary notions
of femininity and captured public imagination, but their trip had such
devastating consequences that the Estby women's achievement was blanketed in
silence for almost a century.

This is an engrossing, fast-moving story about two amazing women and the
overwhelming importance of family history--how stories of family
achievements and personalities define whom we are. Lastly, it's an
indictment of those who willfully and knowingly destroy history simply
because the historymakers do not fit their preconceived molds. I'm glad that
Helga has finally had her story told. I just wish that it could've been in
her own words. show less

An amazing story only slightly let down by the writing style.

This was the second top book in my Unsuggester list and so experimental fool that I am I had to buy it and I'm so glad that I did. My only worry is that despite me owning it and adding it it still appears on my unsuggester list (Heads off briefly to bug collectors).

The story is truly amazing of how a mother and her eldest daughter try to walk across America to win a wager that they desperately need. The story of the trek itself is well told but equally interesting is the reaction of the society in which they lived.

There are elements of adventure, social and feminist history and even politics within this story and whilst this is an interesting mixture I feel that it leads to show more problems with the writing style in that it can't ever really decide if it wants to be serious history, popular non-fiction or even sometimes reaching towards a fact based novel.

Buy it/borrow it/steal it/forget it? Buy it show less

When has someone created a non-fiction biography out of so little information? The author cobbled this story from a few newspaper accounts and family member's limited knowledge and filled in with conjecture and historical bacground. While it is interesting, informative and inspiring, it is also a sad commentary on the lost stories of individuals, especially women, who are marginalized and humiliated when their accomplishments are 'before their time.'

Helga Esthy's walk from Spokane to Manhattan, accompanied by her daughter, Clara, is an amazing, nearly unbelievable story. Without a change of clothes or cooking utensils, portable shelter, or blankets, they make their way across the nation on what is utimately a failed mission. While they show more accomplish their task, the unknown (and hearless?) proponent of the $10,000 wager reneges, leaving them stranded and penniless. show less