Women's Voices from the Oregon Trail

Being a western historian, with the read of this book, it immediately became a part of my library. It is my belief that the subject has been on long over looked and this book did an excellant job with adding light to what the female gender went through basic with the say so of a husband. Yes, I would heartily recommend this book.

Susan Butruille has captured the feeling behind the women's hard covered exterior on the Oregon Trail. This book touched me deeplyin the way that I cried during reading of the book and thought about the book many times after reading it. I read this book in two days and since then have visioned it while living my life here in 2002. I have felt so much for the reallife women of the diaries in this book that I talked about it with my husband and simple things that used to get him or me in a tizzy before I read this book now seem so trivial and unimportant. I think that this book changed my life, the way I look at life in a way that I appreciate way more than I did before I read this book and think much about how wagon women would solve a problem that I have daily and if they would have had that problem (via computers or toasters) at all because everything was so much more primitive, necessary and simple YET hard and trying and exhausting back then.In two words I have for anyone thinking about buying this book is PLEASE DO ..... it will enrich your life. It did Mine.

Susan Butruille has captured the feeling behind the women's hard covered exterior on the Oregon Trail. This book touched me deeplyin the way that I cried during reading of the book and thought about the book many times after reading it. I read this book in two days and since then have visioned it while living my life here in 2002. I have felt so much for the reallife women of the diaries in this book that I talked about it with my husband and simple things that used to get him or me in a tizzy before I read this book now seem so trivial and unimportant. I think that this book changed my life, the way I look at life in a way that I appreciate way more than I did before I read this book and think much about how wagon women would solve a problem that I have daily and if they would have had that problem (via computers or toasters) at all because everything was so much more primitive, necessary and simple YET hard and trying and exhausting back then.In two words I have for anyone thinking about buying this book is PLEASE DO ..... it will enrich your life. It did Mine.

This is a poignant and moving book. It is well constructed. It addresses the daily activities, as well as the overall significance, of women on the Oregon Trail. The book weaves together (and is centered around) excerpts from diaries and other first hand writings. Hearing the stories from those who experienced the journey was an emotional and educational treat.

If you are interested in the day to day lives of women as they walked the Oregon Trail, you'll enjoy this book.