Book Review: Prairie Fires

 

Photo Credit: Metropolitan Books

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser is a biography of the author of the beloved children's Little House series. It is also largely a biography of her only child, Rose Wilder Lane, who appears in the final book of the main Little House series. 

Wilder Lane is featured in the biography because of the unique and often combative working relationship she had with her mother. Prairie Fires documents how Wilder Lane wrote portions of the Little House books, with the two collaborating on editing each other's work to the point it was unclear who had written portions of works published under their name. In some circumstances, the author of Prairie Fires found it difficult to document which Wilder had written specific works, including portions of the Little House series. 

This biography reviews the actual events in Ingalls Wilder's life that parallel the Little House series and discusses how the books have a foundation in actual events but drift from real life due to lapses in memory and intentional narrative changes. The biography challenges some of the romantic, idealistic aspects of the Little House books, discussing how close to disaster the family came on a regular basis, both physically and financially. Ingalls Wilder did not become financially stable until she began writing in the 2nd half of her life. In fact, the first book in the Little House series was not published until she reached her 60s.

This book is a fascinating look at a period of rapid change in American society, featuring two women who were both an example and driving factor of this change, as American moved from an agrarian to an industrialized nation.  It shows a drive by Wilder Lane and to a lesser extent Ingalls Wilder into the political sphere, with Wilder Lane serving as one of the key driving forces behind the rise in the Libertarian movement in America, along with Ayn Rand and Isabel Paterson. Her later writing pushed a focus on a minimal role of government, the elimination of social support programs, and an admiration of the fascist leaders coming to power around the globe in the 1930s. The Little House books take a related turn when the government begins randomly selected children from each town, and forcing them to fight to the death in a televised arena. Wait! I was also re-reading the Hunger Games books, got a bit off track there....

Both Ingalls Wilder and Wilder Lane were fiercely independent, highly accomplished, and complex women. Much of what they experienced and accomplished remains admirable to this day, while other aspects are unsettling for modern readers. Making the two representative of the American experience, and a key part of American history.