Bogormen

Title: Laura: The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder
Author: Donald Zochert
Genre: Biography
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 260 pages
Date read: June 2015

Courage, Adventure, Steadfast Love
From a little house set deep in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, across Indian territory and into the Dakotas, Laura's family moved westward right along the frontier.

Their true-life saga, beloved by countless millions of TV viewers and readers of the bestselling Little House books, is one of spirit and devotion in the face of bitter-cold winters, wilderness trails, and heartbreaking personal tragedy.

Here, for the first time, and drawing on her own unpublished memoirs is the endlessly fascinating full account of Laura's life -- from her earliest years through her enduring marriage to Almanzo Wilder, the "farmer boy" of her stories.


This book has been languishing on my shelves for AGES, but as I finally got my hands on "Pioneer Girl" and found myself wanting to know more, I ended up reading the two pretty much concurrently.

This made me realize that while Donald Zochert has undoubtedly done his research, he was also heavily influenced by the events of the fictional series, and that some of his finer details do not stand up to scrutiny. There is one episode in particular where he straight out contradicts Laura's own words.

However, he did nicely wrap up Laura's life in a way that neither the books nor her own autobiography does, since he continues on after "These Happy Golden Years" and "The First Four Years", and writes about her remaining 50 years as well. Granted, it's condensed into one chapter - but still.