Customer Reviews

Women's Voices from the Western Frontier

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The women of the early American West played a significant role in history, but many of their stories went untold, their voices unheard -- until this book. It's so readable, so filled with glimpses of lives and dreams, it's hard to put down. Who can forget Shell Flower, the Native American girl who thought white people were owls when she first saw them; or Mary Richardson Walker, struggling to be free yet fit the mold of the "True Woman"; or Lalu Nathoy, who sailed to America from China dreaming of fortune, only to be sold into prostitution. Or Esther Morris, the uppity woman who helped make Wyoming the first territory or state to grant voting rights to women. The book is crammed with memorable characters: the sporting women of Colorado who wore yellow satin and hid their pain with opium, the wild women like Calamity Jane and the French gamblers in California, the homesteaders, basket weavers, quiltmakers, each with a story of courage, hilarity or heartbreak. The book has recipes, letters, photographs, and songs. It's like a patchwork quilt, each piece a bit of priceless history.

I bought this book last summer, and while other teens were reading more popular books, I was reading a history book. It has really changed my outlook on western history. I have always been interested in the Oregon Trail, and such, but this has really encouraged me to read more of her books, and otheres like it. Y'all have got to read this book!!