Frontier Grit: The Unlikely True Stories of Daring Pioneer Women
Hardcover – September 6, 2016
Description
Nominated for the 2017 American Library Association Amelia Bloomer Award recognizing books that ''affirm positive roles for girls and women.'' - Amelia Bloomer Project An invaluable contribution to American History shelves and utterly absorbing from cover to cover. Highly recommended, especially for public and college library collections. -Midwest Book Review --Amelia Bloomer Project''Worthy compilation...Many sources and references listed for those who wish to discover more.'' -Historical Novel Society ''This little nugget is a delightful find and carries quite a punch for a small book. The stories of 12 fascinating women will captivate you while exposing you to the history they did not teach us in school. The author purposefully chose 12 women of different nationalities, ethnic backgrounds, and socioeconomic status, to illustrate the diversity of the American West. Contrary to what our history textbooks and the Hollywood movies claim, white males were not even half the true story of the West much less the whole story. Monson wants to help correct that distortion. She hopes that by understanding the severe restrictions on women in the 19th century, modern women will understand how much we owe those who came before us, and understand what they were risking by pursuing their goals.'' -- -Coastal Breeze News, Florida ''Monson reimagines the campfire tall tale by introducing readers to overlooked talks of many forgotten heroines of the American West. Each biographical story defines perseverance, and there are inspiring examples of courage on each page as well as new lessons in how to live. Monson succinctly portrays a pioneering suffragette, a Sioux writer, and the most celebrated stagecoach driver in the West, who hid her gender most of her life. Another impressive pioneer is Clara Brown, a former slave who helped others make their ways from bondage to a better life in Colorado. Monson's accounts of these women who defied gender roles, who lived and breathed feminism, will resonate with all interested in the long-hidden chapters in American history. A compact, informative, briskly paced, emotionally rich, and eye-opening set of micro-biographies that will change truncated views of the West.'' - --Booklist Marianne Monson is a writer and professor of English with a strong interest in the relationship between literature and history. She teaches Creative Writing at Portland Community College and regularly speaks at writing conferences.
Features & Highlights
- Discover the stories of twelve women who heard the call to settle the west and who came from all points of the globe to begin their journey. As a slave, Clara watched helpless as her husband and children were sold, only to be reunited with her youngest daughter, as a free woman, six decades later. As a young girl, Charlotte hid her gender to escape a life of poverty and became the greatest stagecoach driver that ever lived. As a Native American, Gertrude fought to give her people a voice and to educate leaders about the ways and importance of America's native people. These are gripping miniature dramas of good-hearted women, selfless providers, courageous immigrants and migrants, and women with skills too innumerable to list. Many were crusaders for social justice and women's rights. All endured hardships, overcame obstacles, broke barriers, and changed the world. The author ties the stories of these pioneer women to the experiences of women today with the hope that they will be inspired to live boldly and bravely and to fill their own lives with vision, faith, and fortitude. To live with grit.
