Literary Pioneer

When the Bergson family leave their home in Sweden to travel to the United States in search of a better life, they, like many immigrants, are awed by the beautiful harshness of their new life in Nebraska. When their father, John Bergson, grows sick and dies, he leaves the farm in the hands of his eldest daughter Alexandra Bergson. Resourceful and determined, Alexandra devotes her life to her family's farm, determined to prosper even as her neighbors are overwhelmed by the unremitting demands of pioneer life. But when she falls in love with her childhood friend, Carl Linstrum, Alexandra must choose between her duty to the land, and to her heart. A spirited celebration of the immigrants who have shaped the United States, O Pioneers! is a masterpiece by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

In this lavishly illustrated new book, the author of Early Life in Upper Canada and other famous histories of pioneer days, relates the story of the Canadian farm and farmer from the primitive to the machine age. Farm life and farm processes are pictured in fascinating detail, and Mr. Guillet quotes generously from books, newspapers, letters and hitherto unpublished archives material, using the words of those who actually witnessed the life of other days–the pioneers themselves, or the more observant of the numerous travellers who visited Canada during the period. The 450 illustrations contained in the two volumes of this work include many never before reproduced. A detailed list of contents and a full index enable the reader to find readily any topic of pioneer life to which he wishes to refer.

Get up. Go to work. Report on a few news stories. Walk back home. Have dinner with grandparents. Sleep. Repeat. Laila's everyday to-do list was not exactly exciting. An ordinary girl with a bad temper and boisterous but beautiful curls, Laila led a mundane life in Lahore, Pakistan. Until she landed in Udaipur, India, the neighboring but rival nation, to pursue a feature story. Royal tales, historic festivities, and a vibrant culture that confirmed she was far away from home, Laila met many strangers on her journey. One of them was Gulab. As her visit drew to an end, it became clear that Laila's life intersected with Gulab's in tragic and irreversible ways. Secrets unveiled as she uncovered realities of the blood-soaked partition, gut-wrenching atrocities, and a past she never knew she had.

Literary histories, of course, do not have a reason for being unless there exists the literature itself. This volume, perhaps more than others of its kind, is an expression of appreciation for the talented and dedicated literary artists who ignored the odds, avoided temptations to write for popularity or prestige, and chose to write honestly about the American West, believing that experiences long knowns to be of historical importance are also experiences that need and deserve a literature of importance.