First published 2014
Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote her life story first as a memoir for adults before transforming it into the beloved Little House series. This annotated autobiography reveals the unvarnished account of the Ingalls family's sixteen-year odyssey across the American frontier. The family moves from Kansas through Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and finally to Dakota Territory, chasing opportunities and surviving hardships that shaped a generation. Wilder chronicles the real people and events that later became fictional characters and scenes in her novels. Award-winning biographer Pamela Smith Hill provides extensive annotations drawn from manuscripts, letters, photographs, and newspaper accounts. The annotations trace Wilder's evolution from frontier child to accomplished author, showing how she transformed raw experience into enduring literature. This book strips away the gentle veneer of the children's novels to reveal the authentic struggles and triumphs of pioneer life.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, american, autobiography, memoir, biography-memoir, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, found-family
Setting: Dakota Territory, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin
Period: 19th-Century, 20th-Century
400 pages · Hardcover · South Dakota Historical Society Press