Libertarians on the Prairie — A Talk with Biographer Christine Woodside

Eddie Higgins, a researcher and friend of the Land of Laura podcast, interviews journalist and professor Christine Woodside.

When Woodside set out to write a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, she couldn't help but keep coming back to politics. Wilder's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, who was a silent collaborator in shaping the Little House book series, is considered along with Ayn Rand and Isabel Paterson to be one of the founding godmothers of libertarianism.

Woodside's resulting 2016 biography, LIBERTARIANS ON THE PRAIRIE: LAURA INGALLS WILDER, ROSE WILDER LANDE, AND THE MAKING OF THE LITTLE HOUSE BOOK, provides a close look at the working relationship between mother and daughter. The two women created the Little House series against the backdrop of the Depression, and Woodside shows how their opinions on the politics of the day couldn't help but organically seep into the book series.

Libertarians on the Prairie

https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/sky-pony-press/9781628726565/libertarians-on-the-prairie/

"Little House on the Prairie: The contested collaboration between Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder Lane" by Christine Woodside

https://publicseminar.org/2018/04/little-house-on-the-prairie/

American Made by Farah Stockman: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/591675/american-made-by-farah-stockman/

"All the World is Queer," column by Mrs. A.J. Wilder in the Missouri Ruralist, September 20, 1916 — where Laura describes throwing and then kicking an automatic butter churn that she disliked using. Laura Ingalls Wilder, Farm Journalist, page 84