Thank you to Henry Holt & Co and Net Galley for the chance to read and review this book. This is a very long book about the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder. It was a good book, but make sure you have lots of time to read this. I learned a lot about this author and her family. Highly recommend!

This is well researched and I appreciate the work put into this book. I enjoyed adding it to my library of Wilder knowledge. You’ll learn more about this famous author and her family as well as history of the time. The mother-daughter relationship is also discussed as well as discussion of how popular over the decades the book series as been including how important it has been to readers. While this book includes tons of details and takes time to get through with 640 pages as a fan of the Wilders and history it was worth it to me. If you are interested in either, or both, it is a fantastic option, but if you aren’t into such information you might find it overwhelming. It is worth it!

Prairie Fires is a biography in the form of a novel of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her entire family, but most especially her daughter Rose. It's long-winded, but interesting. It makes it clear that there were many struggles with homesteaders' lives rather than glossing over the American West.

Hats off to a phenomenal researcher and interpreter of articles and letters left by Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter, Rose! I am barely in the middle of this long but absorbing tract and I could not be happier. I have learned a great deal about the materialistic and soul-wrenching manipulations of the frontier by the government as well as the deprivations that were suffered there by settlers. The newspapers were in collusion with the government to sell a dream, sad to say, right out from under the feet of the native Americans. When Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter grows up, the relationship between her and her mother is downright astonishing. Thank you, #MetropolitanBooks and #CarolineFraser!

Incredibly detailed look at the life of a woman revered by many simply due to her fictionalized stories of her upbringing. I very much appreciate that this book puts Wilder's life into context of the greater story of Manifest Destiny and does not romanticize the brutality of the times.

Very interesting book about Laura Ingalls Wilder showing how the fiction and reality of her true life . A good book for anyone who wants to know more about her life.

How much do you know about Laura Ingalls Wilder? If you've only read her Little House books and/or watched Little House on the Prairie on television, you probably don't know as much as you think you do. Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder explores the life of the beloved author (as well as that of her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane). Shedding light on little-known facts about the Ingalls and Wilder families—as well as the history of the times they lived in—will allow Little House fans to understand Laura in ways they never imagined.

What I Liked

At 640 pages, Prairie Fires is a BIG book—a tome, if you will—and I was as excited about that as I was about the subject matter. It's been a while since I indulged myself in a lengthy read, so I was looking forward to spending some quality time with this book. It needed every single one of those 640 pages, because there was a lot of fascinating material covered in this book. It isn't a book solely about Laura—in order to get a better understanding of her life, Fraser included bits of history throughout that allows the reader to have a complete picture of what things were like during a particular time. The amateur history buff in me adored reading those portions, because I love learning about history.

I loved learning things about Laura I never knew, such as finding out she was a descendant of Martha Ingalls Allen Carrier—hanged as a "witch" during the Salem Witch Trials. Another fascinating tidbit was about her uncle, Tom Quiner, who in 1874 ventured into the Black Hills—part of the Great Sioux Reservation established by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868—inciting the gold rush that would ultimately culminate in the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876.

It's simply not possible for me to write about everything I liked about this book, because there are far too many things to list. Suffice to say that I was thoroughly engrossed as I read, and finished reading with a greater knowledge of who Laura Ingalls Wilder truly was—flaws and all.

What I Didn't Like

Hmm. Well, I can tell you thing: I definitely do NOT like the fact that I don't have a hardcover edition of this book sitting in a place of prominence on my shelves! I shall have to give myself a stern talking-to about it, and hang my head in shame for failing to acquire it, because—obviously—my shelves demand to be adorned by a copy of this wonderful book!

Final Thoughts

Fraser's impressive research is evident throughout, and makes for a captivating read. Relevant historical information is seamlessly blended in with the biographical aspects of the book, and that information serves to enrich the reading experience and provides clarity for matters that the modern reader may not fully grasp without that lens into the past.

I feel this is a book every Wilder fan would enjoy reading, and I highly recommend it not only to them, but to any reader who has an avid interest in the history of homesteading pioneers in America.

A word of caution, however, for Little House fans—Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote beautiful stories that we all treasure, but she was only human, and had her share of foibles and flaws, as we all do. Like anyone, if she's been put on a pedestal, she will tumble to the ground... so don't be surprised if you find she had certain attitudes about things that you find disagreeable.

I received an advance reading copy of this book courtesy of Metropolitan Books via Netgalley.

It's a shame when an author's too obvious opinions get in the way of what could be an excellent book. That's certainly the case here in what amounts to a dual biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane.

The book is meticulously research with notes taking up over 20% of the book. It looks at the women's lives in the greater context of what was happening in America at the time, which is also good. But even here I started to sense that Fraser was allowing her liberal, common opinions color her narrative. In the course of the book she makes it clear that she is in favor of Progressivism, government subsidies in a big way, and labor activism. Whether her subjects were or not is unclear through much of the book.

What ultimately spoiled the book for me was her obvious dislike of Lane. While I find the question of how much Lane was responsible for the final versions of the Little House series an interesting one, I do not need to read pages and pages of criticism and unflattering portraits of Lane. I have read biographies of unpleasant people where the author did not find it necessary to write this way. If Lane was as bad as Fraser thinks, it will come out without her biased writing.

If Fraser dislikes Lane so much she should have written a biography that focused on Wilder instead of one that looked at both in such detail. Perhaps she could not see how to do that.

Ultimately this attitude spoiled the book so much that I was unable to finish it.

Book received from NetGalley.
Read for #NonfictionNovember Love Category, and #TomeTopple

I could not wait to get my hands on this book when I saw it was being published. I was lucky enough to receive an ARC and my wonderful sister in law bought me a finished copy for Christmas. I had not read a great biography of the writer since reading Zochert's as a pre-teen. Caroline Fraser really stepped it up a notch and found some great information on Wilder's ancestors and her life that the first biography missed, so I wasn't re-reading the same old information. This is definitely not the soppy and saccharine Ingalls family that Michael Landon came up with, it's barely the one that we've come to know from Wilder's books. This family can be petty, they run out on their bills by leaving in the night, and the Ingalls girls are not the normal sheltered girls of the Victorian era. Be prepared to have your childhood views on Little House to be shattered. I do recommend it to those who loved the author as a child, but if you are thinking of getting it for a younger reader, read it yourself first to make sure they can handle some of the issues discussed. Laura Ingalls Wilder will always be one of my favorite children's authors and I will still pick up the books to read occasionally. However, I'm not sure if I would have liked her as a person if I had been able to meet her.

I'm a history buff in a very smallish way and especially enjoy learning more about America's pioneers so Caroline Fraser's Prairie Fires was right down my alley. Pulling from historical papers and documents, Fraser provides a picture of Laura Ingalls Wilder's life, but more than that, provides a strong portrayal of the pioneering spirit that both compelled and inspired her. I recommend this book to all lovers of the Little House series and history buffs of all stripes.

Prairie Fires is exceptionally well-researched, and a well-written biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. It's interesting to read about the differences between Wilder's actual life and her iconic Little House books. While the TV series that so many of us grew up on was wonderfully heart-warming, I'm not sure how accurately it reflected Wilder's books. Prairie Fires reminds us that the Little House book series was not necessarily a reflection of Wilder's life.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free digital ARC of this book. This book is true to its title description. The reader won't be disappointed when reading this book.

Laura’s early life was considerably harder than the sepia-toned, heartwarming stories with which she recounts it. Little children could not stand to hear the grueling poverty and crushing losses her family sustained.

“Her autobiographical novels were not only fictionalized but brilliantly edited, in a profound act of American myth-making and self-transformation. As unpublished manuscripts, letters, and documents have come to light, we have begun to apprehend the scope of her life, a story that needs to be told, in its historical context, as she lived it. That tale is different from the one she wrote. It is an adult story of poverty, struggle, and reinvention—a great American drama in three acts…Showing American children how to be poor without shame, she herself grew rich.”

Wilder was a legend unto herself, a fierce, strong woman that could survive anything, anything, and everything. Her story recounts not only personal hardships, but the wide sweeping history that she lived through, from the Westward movement and Manifest Destiny to the suffrage movement, the Dust Bowl, and the Great Depression, as well as the elephant in the room: Indian removal and genocide.

The book, some 600-plus pages, recounts not only Wilder’s story, but that of her daughter, Rose Ingalls Wilder, who was, frankly, a real piece of work. Their lives were so intensely intertwined that to do this any other way would render Wilder’s story incomplete. And I appreciate the scholarly objectivity with which Fraser treats her subject; it’s not without warmth, but she is clearly not manipulating facts, as some authors do when writing about famous relatives.

And although I previously named a different title as the go-to biography of 2017, I have to recognize that Fraser’s book is a contender. Highly recommended.

Great, thoroughly researched biography of one of my favorite authors. I knew there were some fictionalized accounts in the Little House series, and glad to see them explained here (for better or worse!). I had no idea of the connection between Laura and her daughter, and how much influence her daughter had on her writing. Now off to read Pioneer Girl!

First sentence: On a spring day in April of 1924, Laura Ingalls Wilder, a fifty-seven-year-old farm wife in the Missouri Ozarks, received a telegram from South Dakota. Her mother, Caroline Ingalls, had just died. Wilder hadn’t seen her for more than twenty years.

Premise/plot: This book examines the life and works of Laura Ingalls Wilder and places both within the context of American history. Fraser writes, "For those of us seeking to understand the settlement of the frontier, she offers a path, perhaps our best path, to the past."

Is it a biography? Yes and no. If it is a biography, it is a biography of both Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder Lane. But I'm leaning more towards it being a history book. The book's focus is on the American story; the personal lives of the Ingalls and Wilder families provide an entry point to this bigger story. Politics. Economics. Policies. Personalities.

Close to a third of the book focuses on the written works of Wilder and Lane. The book provides a behind the scenes glimpse into the writing and publishing process. One definitely gets the sense that the books were crafted with intent and purpose to tell a specific story, to impart certain morals and lessons. Fraser writes, "Her story, spanning ninety years, is broader, stranger, and darker than her books, containing whole chapters she could scarcely bear to examine. She hinted as much when she said, in a speech, “All I have told is true but it is not the whole truth.”"

My thoughts: If I have one complaint about the book, it is this: the chapters are LONG. Overall, I enjoyed reading this one. It is a bit on the dry, scholarly side. It is not a straightforward biography. It is anything but concise. IT is packed with details--not just details about the family--but details about the times in which she lived. These historical "asides" aren't really on the side. They are front and center to the book. If you don't love history, then this one probably isn't for you. That being said, I LOVE history.

I wanted to LOVE this book. I grew up on the books and the TV show. I feel like the author was trying to decide how she felt about Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder Lane and that her opinion kept changing. The flow of the constant change made the book a bit off putting for me personally.

I also feel like I did not come off learning anything I had not already read about the Ingalls family...granted it was a variety of books not just one.

If you loved the book series and have not done a lot of reading on the characters as real people this is a great book. If you have done a lot of reading on the characters as real people, this is a good book.

Wow. The amount of research by author Caroline Fraser is impressive. The final 20% of the book consists of detailed notes, many of them cite handwritten letters, journals, and manuscripts. Often the author notes differences between the handwritten manuscript written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and the edited version submitted by her daughter and editor, Rose Wilder Lane, or the final published copy. I think it is fair to refer to this research as exhaustive. By the time I reached the final chapters of the book, I was relieved. There is so much mother-daughter drama between Wilder and Lane, that I was exhausted just reading the product of all the author's research. One can only imagine how painstaking it must be to track down so much primary source material to try and understand such complex experiences and relationships.

I am probably not the typical reader drawn to this book. I don't have any particular affection for the Little House books or TV show, just a fascination in their phenomena. I think I've read one of the books in the series, but I don't remember much more than the cover art and the inconsistencies having watched the TV show. When I was a little girl growing up in the 1970s and 1980s in rural Midwestern America, there was a bandwagon of girls reading the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and families who loved to watch the show together, talk about the show together, make references to the show and/or the books that I didn't understand... I think its fair to say I just didn't see the attraction. I knew a lot of families that were fairly self-sufficient, but I didn't know anyone as perfectly contented as the Ingalls family. Maybe even as a kid I was already too cynical. I wasn't a huge fan, but I was familiar with the books and tv show, and I've read recently about the libertarian beliefs of the Wilder women, so I jumped at the chance to review this title on NetGalley. Thank you to the publisher and author for providing me with a copy for review.

My real interest in Prairie Fires was not in Laura Ingalls Wilder specifically, but just to read about this period of American history without the romantic, nostalgic patina. The author does a wonderful job of presenting the hardships of the frontier. I appreciate how much background is given to illustrate the sensibilities and the challenges that Laura Ingalls Wilder experienced in her time.

I enjoy reading about Laura Ingalls Wilder because she puts my own life in perspective. Something about growing up with rotary phones and early computer technology makes me feel older than my years to look around at younger generations with their smart phones and newest technology and wonder if they realize what a marvel it really is. As a child, Wilder's parents took her to a new homestead in a covered wagon through unknown territory. As an adult she traveled from Missouri to California by automobile, and to Connectict on an airplane. It's hard not to admire her for the life she was able to make for herself through remarkable challenges and a rapidly changing country. Whatever story I can up with about "Back when I was a kid in rural America...", doesn't hold a candle (or an iphone app) to Laura Ingalls Wilder's life experience. Unlike the Little House series, this book is not committed to wholesome, happy endings. There is much sadness in the story of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Personally, I find the reality much more fascinating and relatable than the fictionalized version of her life that lives on in the books and syndicated television. I'm grateful that Wilder took on the challenge of publishing her stories, and Caroline Fraser helps us to separate the fact from the fiction.

Like so many of you I got my love of reading historical fiction as a child after reading the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This is an immensely researched gritty historical biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I learned so much after reading this it was though I were visiting old friends and they were explaining to me how things used to be during this time period. It's really amazing how anyone survived this time period in the areas they lived in from blizzards to exhaustive intense heat,from dust bowls and extreme poverty to near starvation to prairie fires. Pioneer life was not easy but Laura and her family were strong people and survive they did. The book covers a good time period from the covered wagons of her very young childhood to an airplane ride near the end of her life. What progress. This book is just amazing and I suggest anyone who has read or watched Little House on the Prairie to read this, you'll love it!
Pub Date 21 Nov 2017
Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for a review copy in exchange for my honest review.

Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser is the very well researched “true” story of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family of pioneers. It is also the story of how the beloved Little House books came into being. I felt like the story was compelling and read like a good story vs dry nonfiction. I believe the author did a particularly fabulous job in her portrayal of Rose Wilder Lane, whom is a difficult person to like on a good day. You not only learn about Laura but you get a glimpse of what happened to all the members of her family. A definite must buy for history buffs and Little House fans.

Prairie Fires by Caroline Fraser is a heavily researched immense biography about Laura Ingalls Wilder. The reader will learn so much about the Ingalls family and life as a settler. Reading this book will feel as though you are visiting with old friends. The author does an excellent job of presenting her research in an engaging format. Read and enjoy!