Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey
by Lillian Schlissel
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Book Summary Information
Author: Lillian SchlisselEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-07-06
ISBN: 0805211764
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Schocken
Book Reviews of Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey
Book Review: Amazing insight for women today
Summary: 5 Stars
I thought this book was invaluable in giving today's women a glimpse into the lives of women who helped build our country. I wonder how many of us today would be up to the challenge of what they accomplished in spite of physical (long skirts, pregnancy, etc.) and cultural (he's in charge) limitations. One of the other reviewers noted that the book was dry due to lack of emotional content. Even women as recent as my mother's generation were less focused on how they were feeling about things as opposed to getting done what had to be done. Although we know now that self-expression is a healthy practice, I suspect that it was a luxury when crossing an untamed continent. I also can't help but wonder if the diaries of these women were really meant more as an account of household activity rather than a true diary. We'll never know. I for one am glad to have had the opportunity to share their experiences in this small and safe way.
Summary of Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey
More than a quarter of a million Americans crossed the continental United States between 1840 and 1870, going west in one of the greatest migrations of modern times. The frontiersmen have become an integral part of our history and folklore, but the Westering experiences of American women are equally central to an accurate picture of what life was like on the frontier.Through the diaries, letters, and reminiscences of women who participated in this migration, Women?s Diaries of the Westward Journey gives us primary source material on the lives of these women, who kept campfires burning with buffalo chips and dried weeds, gave birth to and cared for children along primitive and dangerous roads, drove teams of oxen, picked berries, milked cows, and cooked meals in the middle of a wilderness that was a far cry from the homes they had left back east. Still (and often under the disapproving eyes of their husbands) they found time to write brave letters home or to jot a few weary lines at night into the diaries that continue to enthrall us.
In her new foreword, Professor Mary Clearman Blew explores the enduring fascination with this subject among both historians and the general public, and places Schlissel?s groundbreaking work into an intriguing historical and cultural context.
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