Monica_in_Switzerland Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 I really enjoyed this lengthy article on Laura Ingalls Wilder and her books, and how they relate to the American spirit and freedom. http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/lessons-in-liberty-from-laura-ingalls-wilder Since I just read through this series with my kids, I liked reading about Wilder's motivations for writing the books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Rat Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Cool! I'm going to pass it on to a friend who loves Laura and the gang. Thanks! (Her ringtone is even Little House on the Prairie theme song!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Wow. I really disapprove of a lot of this article. I appreciate people who at least label political claptrap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celticmom Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 I enjoyed the article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivka Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Wow. I really disapprove of a lot of this article. I appreciate people who at least label political claptrap. :iagree: Sure, the Wilders were self-reliant! Why, they bought the land they lived on, fair and square, from the Native Americans! ...Oh, wait. Here's an interesting counterpoint. Not only the homesteads which the Wilders and others lived on, but the railroads that made Western settlement and trade possible, were made possible by massive government land giveaways. Not to mention the services of the U.S. Army in clearing out, with violence if necessary, the original owners of the land. From the linked article: By the turn of the century, the government had distributed a billion acres of land, but only 147 million became homesteads. Sociologists Scott and Sally McNall estimate that "probably only one acre in nine went to the small pioneers." Some 183 million acres were ultimately given to the railroad companies. (It was these federal giveaways that created the major logging companies, not family businesses.) Four out of five transcontinental railroads were built in this way, and Congress approved loans up to $48,000 per mile to build them. The West has a rich tradition of dependency on government. As historian Stephanie Coontz says: "It would be hard to find a Western family today or at any time in the past whose land rights, transportation options, economic existence, and even access to water were not dependent on federal funds." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 Ok, I guess I should specify that what I find most interesting about this article is LAURA's motivation for writing the books (not necessarily the opinion of the person writing the article on the history of the time). I enjoy re-thinking the books through the optic of Laura trying to motivate a depression-stricken country. I wasn't trying to make a political statement! Sorry, I didn't realize I needed to declare that the article has a political bias. I'm just a fan of Little House trivia! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuntieM Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Okay, so if you put Little House/LIW on your timeline for history class, where does the entry go? In the era of the stories' setting, or the time at which they were written? Seems to me, both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 Personally, I would read them in their historical setting (late 19th century) but then revisit them in discussion during the depression. The long article mentions a book called Little House, Long Shadow that I now want to read, about how the books helped shape the culture at the time, so that might be interesting to read while studying the depression. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMamaBird Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Cool article, thanks! We're heading out west this summer and may stop at the Ingall's Homestead so this was interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singingmom Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Loved this ,Monica. Thank you for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My3Boys Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Great article. I'll be passing this on. Concerning those who settled the west, I've always been confused on the issue of the land being taken from the native Americans. Who did the native Americans purchase it from? Weren't the western tribes mostly nomadic? I'm part Seneca (PA tribe), so these kinds of discussions are of interest to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoLuRu Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Who did the native Americans purchase it from? Really? The tribes lived there for thousands of years before being driven away by force. Of course, there were obviously no deeds or bank loan documents proving that they "owned" the land. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FiveOaksAcademy Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 This topic...I am torn about it. The native Americans got a raw deal, to say the very, very least. I don't like what went down at all. I rarely see people getting overly upset, though, about people groups from the past who had their land taken away from them. That IS history!! It seems constant, there was always someone being conquered and driven off their land. But it seems the only time people actually get angry about it is when it has to do with America?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Okay, so if you put Little House/LIW on your timeline for history class, where does the entry go? In the era of the stories' setting, or the time at which they were written? Seems to me, both. Well, dd just read The Once and Future King as part of a King Arthur study. While we read it in the Middle Ages bit of our timeline, I gave her the historical context of when it was written. TH White was a pacifist who left England to avoid fighting in WWI. Merlin keeps reminding them that might does not make right, Camelot and the knights are frivolous. This contrasts with the stories written in Le Morte d'Arthur, when nobles needed to protect their people and lands against rivals or roving bands. This topic...I am torn about it. The native Americans got a raw deal, to say the very, very least. I don't like what went down at all. I rarely see people getting overly upset, though, about people groups from the past who had their land taken away from them. That IS history!! It seems constant, there was always someone being conquered and driven off their land. But it seems the only time people actually get angry about it is when it has to do with America?!? Because it is so recent. Look up what happened with the Cherokee in Georgia. And for the other question above, no, most NA tribes were not nomadic, that is one of the myths people use when whitewashing history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ipsey Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 This topic...I am torn about it. The native Americans got a raw deal, to say the very, very least. I don't like what went down at all. I rarely see people getting overly upset, though, about people groups from the past who had their land taken away from them. That IS history!! It seems constant, there was always someone being conquered and driven off their land. But it seems the only time people actually get angry about it is when it has to do with America?!? If you lived in Australia, you'd see that this isn't just an American issue. The indigenous Australians are still struggling in similar ways to Native Americans. Anti-Native racism is still huge in the US. Did you know that forced sterilization of Native women still occurred in the 1970s. Social and Church groups encouraged Native families send children away from their homes and placing them with White families. Native families still have a hard time fostering and adopting the children from their _own_ extended families. (I'm trying to find an article I read on this recently. I'll link when I can find it. I think it was on NPR.) The racism and economic warfare against Native Americans is still great, and that's why people who know get angry about it, and angry about what caused it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 If you lived in Australia, you'd see that this isn't just an American issue. The indigenous Australians are still struggling in similar ways to Native Americans. Anti-Native racism is still huge in the US. Did you know that forced sterilization of Native women still occurred in the 1970s. Social and Church groups encouraged Native families send children away from their homes and placing them with White families. Native families still have a hard time fostering and adopting the children from their _own_ extended families. (I'm trying to find an article I read on this recently. I'll link when I can find it. I think it was on NPR.) The racism and economic warfare against Native Americans is still great, and that's why people who know get angry about it, and angry about what caused it. There are people in their fifties who were kidnapped from their families and "adopted" by "missionaries" who sent them to "missionary schools" in order to steal the Native Mineral Rights that belonged to the kids. The kids were beaten for speaking their own language or practicing any of the cultural practices of their tribe. This is *extremely recent* history. And it is *infuriating* that most Americans don't know anything about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChocolateReignRemix Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 This topic...I am torn about it. The native Americans got a raw deal, to say the very, very least. I don't like what went down at all. I rarely see people getting overly upset, though, about people groups from the past who had their land taken away from them. That IS history!! It seems constant, there was always someone being conquered and driven off their land. But it seems the only time people actually get angry about it is when it has to do with America?!? I think you would find it is an issue many other places (Australia and Canada come to mind, to a lesser degree parts of Central and South America). Many groups have had land stolen from them. Native Americans often have proof of what was stolen, by whom, and when thanks to treaty records. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 (edited) The long article mentions a book called Little House, Long Shadow that I now want to read, about how the books helped shape the culture at the time, so that might be interesting to read while studying the depression. It is a very interesting book. I also read a book about a woman who is a huge fan, who traveled the country, visiting important sites. She talks about which sites don't get many visitors and the interesting fellow fans she met along the way. (Wilder Life by Wendy McLure) I was recently reading Nicole Rousseau's book Black Women's Burden and she makes the same point about black women who are not only still alive, but not that old, who were forcibly sterilized, or almost were, or who know someone who was. Even she was surprised of the degree to which it touched people's lives. Edited June 22, 2012 by stripe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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