Stephen W. Hines

Laura Ingalls Wilder, noted author of the Little House on the Prairie series, was also a columnist for the Missouri Ruralist and in this volume are the collected columns from 1911 to 1924.

These columns provide a wealth of insights into rural life in turn-of-the century America and of the most interest is how Wilder sees the impact of progress on rural life. Her columns concerning women's voting, the First World War and its aftermath are particularly interesting: namely that women should be informed of the political process since it is such an important duty to be able to vote.

The other columns about day-to-day life on the farm sometimes feel repetitive but the joys and sorrows of rural life are constantly conveyed.… (mer)

A very interesting book, filled with memories of people who knew Laura Ingall's Wilder. Since nobody thought to collect these until at least twenty years after she died, some of them conflict, or are fuzzy. It is good to read them for what they are and not take them for solid facts. There are some recipes from some of the pioneers of De Smet, including one from Laura's mother. Many photos and some of Laura's writings, which she did before she wrote her books, are included. This has given me a desire to seek out some of Rose Wilder Lane's writings, she sounds like a very interesting woman.… (mer)

guess, fifty years after her death, that it would be pretty hard to get a lot of information to fill a book where the goal is to tell all about the personality of Laura IngallS Wilder. The author definitely gets some things right...the remembrances by a few friends, and especially the two boys down the street, are adorable and worth owning this book, alone. The author obviously adores Laura the way many of us readers do and that adds a definte air of charm to this book as well. However, this book is high on the filler content and the chapters are random and not at all coherent. A lot of the items included are random as well...rembembrances (which I thought the book was to be completely made up of, my error), old receipes from the townspeople of DeSmet, some of Laura's writings on WWI from her early jounalism days, etc. A lot of questions were brought up and instead of answering them, they are just made even more glaring and it really bothered me to know that we may NEVER know the answers to these questions. Overall this book is a keeper, for the little gems inside, but not anything that shouldn't have been able to be condensed down to one of those little booklets, similar to those that are available on the Ingalls and Wilder familys from William Anderson… (mer)