Once upon a time, sixty years ago (now nearly 150 years ago), a little girl lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, in a little gray house made of logs. With that opening scene, Laura Ingalls Wilder launched the Little House book series that eventually became a key piece of American culture. But, did you know, that despite her stories of little houses on the prairies of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, and the Dakota Territory, Laura Ingalls Wilder actually spent a majority of her life in the tiny town of Mansfield, Missouri? This episode features Pulitzer Prize-winning author Caroline Fraser talking to us about her recent book, Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder. In her award-winning book, Fraser provides a stunning account of the events that not only shaped Laura Ingalls Wilder's life but also inspired her later literary masterpieces.
About the Guest: Caroline Fraser holds a PhD in English and American Literature from Harvard University. She is the author of God's Perfect Child: Living and Dying in the Christian Science Church and Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution. Additionally, she served as editor of the Library of America edition of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books. Her work has also appeared in the New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and Outside Magazine, among others. Her most recent book, Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography, Plutarch Award, and the Pulitzer Prize in Biography.
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Summer Series 2024: Piedmont Lights (Missouri Mysteries, Part 3)
Summer Series 2024: Blue Pyramid in Phelps County (Missouri Mysteries, Part 2)
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Episode 99: Sudden Deaths in St. Louis - Sarah Lirley (On the Bookshelf, Part 9)
Episode 98: Broadcasting the Ozarks - Kitty Ledbetter (On the Bookshelf, Part 8)
Episode 97: Men of No Reputation - Kimberly Harper (On the Bookshelf, Part 7)
Episode 96: Ozark Voices - Alex Primm (On the Bookshelf, Part 6)
Episode 95: Fighting for a Free Missouri - Sydney J. Norton (On the Bookshelf, Part 5)
Episode 94: Oracle of Lost Causes - Matthew Christopher Hulbert (On the Bookshelf, Part 4)
Episode 93: Newspaperwoman of the Ozarks - Susan Croce Kelly (On the Bookshelf, Part 3)
Episode 92: John Bradbury & "My Own Commander" - Katie Seale/John Brenner (On the Bookshelf, Part 2)
Episode 91: A Man by Any Other Name - Joseph Beilein, Jr. (On the Bookshelf, Part 1)
Episode 90: Ted & Pat Jones - Sean Rost (Historic Missourians, Part 7)
Episode 89: Charles & Elizabeth Schwartz - Elizabeth Engel (Historic Missourians, Part 6)
Episode 88: Dewey Short - Hali Allen (Historic Missourians, Part 5)
Episode 87: Ralph Foster & RadiOzark - Haley Frizzle-Green (Historic Missourians, Part 4)
Episode 86: Arvarh Strickland - Bridget Haney (Historic Missourians, Part 3)
Episode 85: Mary Jane Guthrie - Doug Genens (Historic Missourians, Part 2)
Episode 84: Paul Henning - Sean Rost (Historic Missourians, Part 1)
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