Description
Book SynopsisAn anthology of thirty-four writers who published during the settlement years of the American frontier. It assembles nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and occasional writings from women of Anglo, Chinese, Hispanic, and Native American ethnicity, addressing such themes as isolation, drudgery, friendship, mourning, and even mysticism.
Trade ReviewThis book deserves a place alongside other compilations of women's experience of the early days out West. --Cindy Bellinger, Enchantment Sept. 2008 ""This useful and accessible collection has great appeal for general readers with an interest in western, nineteenth-century, or women's history. Moreover, college and high school instructors will find it a welcome source and textbook."" --Jennifer L. Jenkins, Journal of Arizona History j ""Not simply paeans to the West, the selections examine substantive social, political, and racial themes and explore issues of identity, marriage, and autonomy."" --J. K. Weinstein, Choice ""The frontier and American women are intertwined in the collected pieces through the issues of race, the clash of indigenous and invading or intermingling cultures. The feminine voice is heard throughout--voices rich in detail and less impaired by territorial imperative."" --David B. Broad, Journal of the West ""... A testament to the adage 'you can't keep a good book down.'"" -- The Journal of Arizona History, Vol. 49, No. 3, Autumn 2008 ""The editor posses a sure grasp of the sorts of topics and themes that are likely to interest contemporary readers with a literary bent...A lot of the frontier women's fiction reprinted in Miller's compendium is fetching and not easy to find... Nor will the reader want to overlook Sharlot Mabridth Halls' (d. 1913) ""The Fruit of the Yucca Tree"" (1905), a thematic amalgam of Bret Harte's early Western scenes and Jack London's droll forebodings. Enchanting stories like these not only indicate the richness of Miller's selections, but offer readers plenty of food for thought about the imaginative life of their frontier authors.""-- Chiron Review, No. 85, Winter 2008
