Womens Diaries of the Westward Journ..., Lillian Schlissel
Womens Diaries of the Westward Journ..., Lillian Schlissel
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey

Author: Lillian Schlissel, Mary Clearman Blew

Narrator: Christina Delaine

Unabridged: 8 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 04/25/2023


Synopsis

More than a quarter of a million Americans crossed the continental United States between 1840 and 1870, going west in one of the greatest migrations of modern times. The frontiersmen have become an integral part of our history and folklore, but the Westering experiences of American women are equally central to an accurate picture of what life was like on the frontier.

Through the diaries, letters, and reminiscences of women who participated in this migration, Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey gives us primary source material on the lives of these women, who kept campfires burning with buffalo chips and dried weeds, gave birth to and cared for children along primitive and dangerous roads, drove teams of oxen, picked berries, milked cows, and cooked meals in the middle of a wilderness that was a far cry from the homes they had left back east. Still (and often under the disapproving eyes of their husbands) they found time to write brave letters home or to jot a few weary lines at night into the diaries that continue to enthrall us.

In her new foreword, Professor Mary Clearman Blew explores the enduring fascination with this subject among both historians and the general public, and places Schlissel's groundbreaking work into an intriguing historical and cultural context.

About Lillian Schlissel

Lillian Schlissel is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College. She is coeditor of Far from Home: Families of the Westward Journey and of The Western Women's Reader. She lives in New York City.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jessaka

After reading this book, it appeared to me that very few women wanted to leave their homes and go by wagon train to Oregon or California. Then once on this trip, it didn’t seem likely that they could turn around and head back home, not unless they had a lot of other families following. The women wen......more

Goodreads review by Kate

Ever wonder why 19th-century American women who were reasonably comfortable in their lives would want to leave loved ones behind, perhaps forever, and endure the considerable dangers and hardships of the westward migration to Oregon or California? Well, they didn't want to--the author quotes their a......more

Goodreads review by Kathy

I love books like this--excerpts from actual diaries of women who traveled to Oregon & California from the east. Plus, the editor had really done her research on these 94 women, to the extent of adding notes that made their difficult situations even more enlightening. For example, when Amelia Stewar......more