Several generations of readers have been reared on Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books, books that have achieved a near mythological quality in the American literary imagination. What few people know, however, is that nearly every sentence of those classic books was shaped at the hands of a gifted ghostwriter: Wilder's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. Over the years, as Laura Ingalls Wilder became a literary phenomenon, her daughter slipped quietly into obscurity. In this biography, William Holtz presents an intimate ...
Read More
Several generations of readers have been reared on Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books, books that have achieved a near mythological quality in the American literary imagination. What few people know, however, is that nearly every sentence of those classic books was shaped at the hands of a gifted ghostwriter: Wilder's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. Over the years, as Laura Ingalls Wilder became a literary phenomenon, her daughter slipped quietly into obscurity. In this biography, William Holtz presents an intimate account of Lane's adventure-filled life as a writer, a daughter and a political theorist. Drawing on her letters and diaries, he traces her life from her own gruelling childhood on the prairie to her final journey overseas, this last trip as a Vietnam War correspondent at the age of 78. After beginning her career as a journalist, Rose Wilder Lane returned to her parents' Rocky Ridge farm in Missouri to aid them in a time of financial difficulty. As the Little House books began to win followers for her mother, Rose Wilder Lane's "editorial" role in them usurped more and more of her time. The secrecy of the collaboration, along with her parents' continued financial dependence on Lane, contributed to an increasingly thorny relationship between mother and daughter. In a tale that should surprise every fan of the Litte House books, Holtz chronicles Lane's painful and humiliating struggle to free herself from the emotional bondage to her mother that plagued her for much of her life. Between intervals with her mother at the farm, Lane continued her work as a journalist and free-lance writer, travelling throughout the United States and to such exotic localities as Albania and Baghdad. She wrote the biographies of Henry Ford, Charlie Chaplin and Jack London. As ghostwriter, she stood behind such figures as Frederick O'Brien and Lowell Thomas as well as her mother. As a political thinker, Lane held fast to a grass-roots libertarian view during the Roosevelt years and beyond, an effort that produced a protege who became a Libertarian presidential candidate in 1976. Rose Wilder Lane left no small legacy. Her silent contribution to the Little House books made them American classics. As a political thinker, she left a small but potent body of work that still stands as an inspiration for contemporary civil libertarians. In "The Ghost in the Little House", William Holtz reveals the passionate life of a singularly gifted woman struggling to find a centre of meaning in her life.
Read Less
Add this copy of The Ghost in the Little House: a Life of Rose Wilder to cart. $13.62, good condition, Sold by Books For Life rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Laurel, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by Univ of Missouri Pr.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Book is in good condition. Minimal signs of wear. It May have markings or highlights but kept to only a few pages. May not come with supplemental materials if applicable.
Add this copy of The Ghost in the Little House: a Life of Rose Wilder to cart. $14.11, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by University of Missouri Press.
Add this copy of The Ghost in the Little House: a Life of Rose Wilder to cart. $14.11, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by University of Missouri Press.
Add this copy of The Ghost in the Little House: a Life of Rose Wilder to cart. $14.11, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by University of Missouri Press.
Add this copy of The Ghost in the Little House: a Life of Rose Wilder to cart. $25.00, very good condition, Sold by Adkins Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Chattanooga, TN, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by Univ of Missouri Pr.
Add this copy of The Ghost in the Little House: A Life of Rose Wilder to cart. $28.75, good condition, Sold by DeesBooks rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from McClelland, IA, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by University of Missouri Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Good in good dust jacket. Ex-library. Good solid ex-library book with the usual stamps, numbers, cards & plastic over the cover. Plastic shows some scuffing wear. Pages are free of writing & tight with some corner & edge wear and a few smudges. Inside back cover has some dirt & smudges. Outside edge of pages has some dirt wear.
Add this copy of The Ghost in the Little House: a Life of Rose Wilder to cart. $65.65, new condition, Sold by Just one more Chapter rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Miramar, FL, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by Univ of Missouri Pr.
Add this copy of The Ghost in the Little House: a Life of Rose Wilder to cart. $42.35, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by Univ of Missouri Pr.
Add this copy of The Ghost in the Little House: a Life of Rose Wilder to cart. $44.50, very good condition, Sold by Ground Zero Books, Ltd. rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Silver Spring, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by University of Missouri Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good, very good. 425, illus., bibliographical note, notes, index. This is one of the Missouri Biographies series. Drawing on diaries and letters, Holtz details Lane's life (1886-1968) in an engrossing study that highlights her troubled relationship with Laura Ingalls Wilder, who was an apparently cold and manipulative mother.
