num_pages: 640
description: Millions of readers of Little House on the Prairie believe they know Laura Ingallsthe pioneer girl who survived blizzards and near-starvation on the Great Plains and the woman who wrote the famous autobiographical books. But the true saga of her life has never been fully told. Now drawing on unpublished manuscripts letters diaries and land and financial records Caroline Fraserthe editor of the Library of America edition of the Little House seriesmasterfully fills in the gaps in Wilders biography. Revealing the grown-up story behind the most influential childhood epic of pioneer life she also chronicles Wilder's tumultuous relationship with her journalist daughter Rose Wilder Lane setting the record straight regarding charges of ghostwriting that have swirled around the books.The Little House books for all the hardships they describe are paeans to the pioneer spirit portraying it as triumphant against all odds. But Wilders real life was harder and grittier than that a story of relentless struggle rootlessness and poverty. It was only in her sixties after losing nearly everything in the Great Depression that she turned to childrens books recasting her hardscrabble childhood as a celebratory vision of homesteadingand achieving fame and fortune in the process in one of the most astonishing rags-to-riches episodes in American letters.Spanning nearly a century of epochal change from the Indian Wars to the Dust Bowl Wilders dramatic life provides a unique perspective on American history and our national mythology of self-reliance. With fresh insights and new discoveries Prairie Fires reveals the complex woman whose classic stories grip us to this day.WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZEWINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDWINNER OF THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE HEARTLAND PRIZE FOR NON-FICTIONONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAROne of The New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Books of the YearThe first comprehensive historical biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder the beloved author of the Little House on the Prairie books
language: English
title: Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder
publisher: Metropolitan Books