Briefly Reviewed

Title: A Secret Gift: How One Man's Kindness and a Trove of Letters Revealed the Hidden History of the Great Depression
Author: Ted Gup
Edition: Penguin Press, 2010
Setting: USA, Great Depression
Genre:  Nonfiction

Just before Christmas in 1933, an pseudonymous benefactor placed an ad in a Canton, Ohio newspaper offering a small amount of money to families suffering because of the Great Depression.  The author is the grandson of that benefactor, Sam Stone, and this is both a family history and a history of life during hard times.  The hard times are indeed hard: breadwinners have been out of work for years, families are hungry, children go barefoot all year because shoes are a luxury their parents can't afford, people die for lack of medical care because they can't pay bills, businesses go bankrupt, renters are evicted and homeowners lose their homes, depositors lose their life savings in bank failures, parents surrender their children to orphanages because they can't feed them. The author uses the letters his grandfather received to illustrate just what ordinary people went through trying to survive the Great Depression.  These letters are sad, inspiring, moving, tear-jerking - sometimes all in the same letter.  They remind us of the difference a social safety net makes. 

The family history, oddly enough is somewhat less interesting, partly because it is spread throughout the book and loses the impact when told that way.  It is an interesting history, but the connection between Sam's generous act and his life history seems rather tenuous to me.  Still, a worthwhile book, and an important history lesson.


 
Title: Nurse in Blue
Author: Gladys Taber
Edition:  Triangle Books, 1944
Setting:  USA during WWII
Genre:   Women's Fiction

Gladys Taber was a prolific American mid-century writer who wrote a number of interesting books about her country home, Stillmeadow. She's best known for those books, but she also wrote novels, of which Nurse in Blue is one.  Written during World War II, its heroine, Janet, leaves her midwestern home, nursing job, and fiance, Philip, to become a Navy nurse in New York City.  Will Janet give up her dream of helping win the war with her nursing skills to go back to the midwest as Philip's (bored) wife?  Will she end up with the strong and silent type she meets in New York, Chris (oh, please - NO)?  Will she marry someone else?  The question of will she follow her skills, education, and abilities and have a career doesn't really arise - this was written in 1942-43, and that option is apparently well, not an option.  The writing is fresh and lively, the character of Janet and her friend Francesca, believable, the men less so.  The ending is unbelievably hurried.  But if you want to catch the flavor of what women were reading in the war years, this is probably a good example. 

Briefly Reviewed - Prairie Fires

Title:  Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Author:  Caroline Fraser
Edition:  Metropolitan Books, 2017
Setting:  American West
Genre:   Non Fiction

Never out of print, made into a television show, Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" books are a well-known part of American culture.  If you've read "Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Biography" you may not think "Prairie Fires" would have anything left to tell.  But it does, very much so.  Caroline Fraser has done a tremendous amount of research in order to provide historical context for Laura Ingalls Wilder's life and writing. 

And there's so much here you've never read before, or perhaps you've read something in Wilder's books or about her life, but not really understood the ramifications of it.  I, as an example, never realized how truly poor the Wilder family was, nor how dependent they were on others for the betterment of their lives.  Fraser points out how much the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" philosophy stated in Wilder's books is in contrast to all the help they got: free land from the government, clothing from missionary barrels, help from friends and neighbors.  And Pa, the upstanding citizen?  Well, there was that midnight flight from the debts he owed in Iowa.  Funny how that never made it into the books.  Which brings me to another excellent aspect of Fraser's work: the actual writing of Wilder's books.  The tug of war between daughter (and oh, my! What a difficult and unlikable person she was!) and mother over what to write and how to present Laura's pioneer experiences is examined in depth.  That's quite a fascinating story. 

While discussing difficult and hard truths, Fraser never loses respect for Wilder's work and shows great understanding of her times and character.  If you'd like to read a well-researched, very accessible book that not only puts Wilder's life and work in historical context and perspective, but also let's you come as close to the real Laura as you'll ever get, this is that book.  Highly recommended. 

I received a copy from the publisher as part of the Library Thing Early Reviewers program.