Pioneer Girl Perspectives: Exploring Laura Ingalls Wilder by Nancy Tystad Koupal

Editor Nancy Tystad Koupal has collected essays from noted scholars of Laura Ingalls Wilder's life and work that explore the themes and genesis of Wilder's writings. Pioneer Girl Perspectives sheds new light on the story behind Wilder's original manuscript and examines the ways in which the author and her daughter and editor, Rose Wilder Lane, worked to develop a marketable narrative. The essay contributors delve into the myths and realities of Wilder's work to discover the real lives of frontier children, the influence of time and place on both Wilder and Lane, and the role of folklore in the Little House novels. Together, the essays give readers a deeper understanding of how Wilder built and managed her story.

Hardcover
Black & White Images
300 pages
ISBN: 978-1-941813-08-9

About the author: Nancy Tystad Koupal is director and the South Dakota Historical Society Press. She received an M.A. in English from Morehead State University of Wisconsin, Madison. She founded the South Dakota Historical Society Press in 1997, Koupal is also the editor and annotator of Our Landlady, a collection of L. Frank Baum's satirical newspaper columns. 

Image Description: The illustration on the cover depicts a woman standing in a field. She is dressed in a long white dress, a hat, and she is holding a forged cultivator. Behind her there is a stack of hay, and a two brown horses to her left. Above the field there is a blue sky with some clouds. The title, subtitle, and author's name are printed in the top left corner of the cover.