Pioneer Women: The Lives of Women on the Frontier (Paperback)

~ Linda Peavy (Author), Ursula Smith (Author) "Soon after the earliest wagon trains went west, guidebooks such as The Emigrants Guide to Oregon and California (1845) and Journal of Travels over the..." (more)
Key Phrases: pioneer women, Montana Territory, Native American, South Dakota (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The rarely seen and startlingly vital black-and-white photographs in this volume capture the fortitude and pride of the clear-eyed women of the frontier, women who had to practice all the tender arts of nurturing a family under the most rugged of circumstances. Peavy and Smith cut through all the myths of frontier life in their frank and engaging commentary, getting down to the cold, gritty facts under such headings as "Keeping Spirits Up," "Night Fears," "Warding Off Insects and Animals," and "Little Ones Lost." This litany alludes to the loneliness and isolation of pioneer existence, where every act, from securing clean drinking water to making clothes, required long, hard labor, and where pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood often involved as much tragedy as joy. Little-discussed issues, such as marriages between Anglo men and Indian and Hispanic women, are examined, as are the lives of women who found employment outside the homestead as teachers, physicians, businesswomen, journalists, and even prostitutes. A book as fresh and inspiring as a bright, breezy day on the plains. Donna Seaman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press; Oklahoma Paperbacks Ed edition (March 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806130547
• ISBN-13: 978-0806130545
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #197,641 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for women of all ages, October 17, 2001

By	sharon (Nova Scotia Canada) - See all my reviews

This book will open your eyes up to the way things were a century and a half ago. Back to the basics is an understatement. Imagine raising 8 children on a farm that you had to establish yourself because your husband and other family members perished on the trip west to get to an unknown territory far far away from immediate family? These women did it. They survived and thier children either a: lived and learned the life or b: died from illness or accidents. This is very graphic and very personable to the very core of many women's souls. Women who kept diaries on the Oregon Trail in 1850 and onwards. Women who were always "in the background" keeping the family fed, clothed, silent and schooled. Women are most definitly the most gentle and most strong of the sexes.. Why? Because they have a continuous human spirit and one that gets them through the toughest of times of all.
Please read this book and with that said.. the pictures in this book are a historian's dream!

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good, inclusive view of the women who civilized the West, February 7, 1999

By A Customer

In Pioneer Women, Peavy and Smith do a good job of inclusion of the women of different classes and races who helped "civilize" the western U.S. They also do a good job of confronting myths with facts and in juxtaposing ideal portraits with real. In Pioneer Women, one sees mud as mud and buffalo chips as buffalo chips. But the authors also point out the resourcefulness of pioneering women who overcame the mud and used the buffalo chips for fuel and for survival. Pioneer Women is a very good, informative read!

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative and Interesting Reading, June 3, 2002

By	Diana L. Greenwood (Norco, Ca. United States) - See all my reviews

Pioneer Women-The Lives of Women on the Frontier is a must for collectors of western lore-whether as used for reference or just for reading pleasure this book delves into little covered issues and answers the questions previously unmentioned regarding women on the frontier. From traveling west to every day life, from cooking to birth control, women domestic pioneers to women entrepreneurs; if you have a question about the lives of women in the 1800's this book probably has the answer in its pages.