Old Home Town (Bison Book) [Paperback]

Rose Wilder Lane (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bison Book | Publication Date: November 1, 1985

In Old Home Town, Rose Wilder Lane has recreated small-town society of pre-World War I America with a precise feeling for decorum, dress, and kitchen dialogue. Like Sherwood Anderson in Winesburg, Ohio, she describes a community through the stories of certain memorable citizens. The overlay of nostalgia cannot hide some sharp observations about marriage and women's rights.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Old Home Town is a human document, as real and homely and American as [a] red-checkered table cloth."—New York Times

(New York Times )

"As Booth Tarkington and Eugene O''Neill have given us the small town of the nineties, Mrs. Lane shows us the first decade of the century."—Books

(Books )

"Mrs. Lane has an uncanny knack of knowing what makes the wheels go round and why. She portrays the characters of this village in photographic detail, telling [their] stories . . . with keen wit, biting humor, and a full flavor."—Springfield Republican

(Springfield Republican )

About the Author

Rose Wilder Lane, the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder (Little House books), is the author of Free Land.

Product Details

• Paperback: 309 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books (November 1, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803279175
• ISBN-13: 978-0803279179
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #169,997 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nostalgia and Irony, June 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Old Home Town (Bison Book) (Paperback)

Lane's collection of short stories centers on a unnamed small town in the American Midwest. Beginning with an introduction that lays out for us geography and social codes, Lane invites us to walk the streets and enter the houses with her, helping us to see how the small town at the end of the 19th century became the foundation for mid-20th-century American life.

Lane brings to life a rich cast of characters, many of them recurring throughtout the book. Each story is filled with telling details, strong character development and plot. Many of the stories detail the traps into which women fall -- marriages of convenience, the struggle against poverty, the subversion of natural desires to social convention.

Without denying the narrowness of small-town life, these stories brim with affection for the small town and its people, with all their genuine concern for one another. Hardship and hilarity, gossip and grace, these small-town characters see and experience it all.

Staying close to her small town while traveling far beyond it, Lane succeeds in setting down the details of a time and place long gone, yet populated with easily-recognized characters. A fine read, filled with the pleasure of nostalgia, yet not in the least soothing. Her view is too sharp for sedation.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and sweetly captivating..., July 17, 2000

By 

Sue Witas (Whitefish Bay, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Old Home Town (Bison Book) (Paperback)

This book is a beautifully-written account of small-town life just after the turn of the century. Fascinating stories, many with softly breathtaking twists. Characters are well-developed and believably human. Also, an eye-opener addressing the many limitations placed on the female gender of that era. For any Laura Ingalls Wilder fans hungering for more to read, this is the book for you. ~S.W.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A simply wonderful book, January 22, 2002

By 

Sharon Burton (Riverside, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Old Home Town (Bison Book) (Paperback)

I bought my copy at the museum in Mansfield because I always wanted to read Rose's work. This book is a gem. The essay introducing the book is worth getting the book but each story is a gem on its own. Her voice is fresh and rings well today. You would not know she lived in the first half of the 20th century.

I have loaned this book out to 2 people now and all of us are knocked out at how good Rose was. Purchase it, read it. Rose was well known in the early part of last century for good reason. Let's bring this author back to the audience she richly deserves today.