Pioneer Women - Joanna L Stratton

Letters from early 1900's tell stories of homesteading in Kansas territory.  Contains biographical names list.  I enjoyed reading this book.  The author came across letters sent to her great-grandmother who published a newspaper or magazine but had never gotten to these.  Stratton weaves them into a tale of what life was like in the settler's time. 

Published: 1981  Read: August 2019  Genre: History

The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton - Jane Smiley

I've read other of Smiley's books with mixed enthusiasm.  This novel is a historical fiction, focusing on the experiences of a young Boston woman who marries and travels west to settle in the territory that would later become the state of Kansas.  The story presents the views of both sides of the slave issue, the abolitionist from the North and the pro-slavery supporters from the south in what become known as "Bloody Kansas".  The battles between the settlers were the beginning of what would become the Civil War divide. 

I enjoyed reading the story and being drawn into the primary character, Lidie, as she tried to make sense of the arguments and differences.  I learned a bit of history I wasn't familiar with and a lot of the struggles of settling the new nation.  Recommended.


Published:  1998  Read: March 2019   Genre: Historical fiction