Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West

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Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West

3.35 of 5 stars 3.35 · rating details · 2,835 ratings · 793 reviews

In the summer of 1916, Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood, close friends from childhood and graduates of Smith College, left home in Auburn, New York, for the wilds of northwestern Colorado. Bored by their soci-ety luncheons, charity work, and the effete young men who courted them, they learned that two teach-ing jobs were available in a remote mountaintop schoolhouse...more In the summer of 1916, Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood, close friends from childhood and graduates of Smith College, left home in Auburn, New York, for the wilds of northwestern Colorado. Bored by their soci-ety luncheons, charity work, and the effete young men who courted them, they learned that two teach-ing jobs were available in a remote mountaintop schoolhouse and applied—shocking their families and friends. “No young lady in our town,” Dorothy later commented, “had ever been hired by anybody.” They took the new railroad over the Continental Divide and made their way by spring wagon to the tiny settlement of Elkhead, where they lived with a family of homesteaders. They rode several miles to school each day on horseback, sometimes in blinding blizzards. Their students walked or skied on barrel staves, in tattered clothes and shoes tied together with string. The man who had lured them out west was Ferry Carpenter, a witty, idealistic, and occasionally outrageous young lawyer and cattle rancher. He had promised them the adventure of a lifetime and the most modern schoolhouse in Routt County; he hadn’t let on that the teachers would be considered dazzling prospective brides for the locals.

That year transformed the children, their families, and the undaunted teachers themselves. Dorothy and Rosamond learned how to handle unruly children who had never heard the Pledge of Allegiance and thought Ferry Carpenter was the president of the United States; they adeptly deflected the amorous advances of hopeful cowboys; and they saw one of their closest friends violently kidnapped by two coal miners. Carpenter’s marital scheme turned out to be more successful than even he had hoped and had a surprising twist some forty years later.

In their buoyant letters home, the two women captured the voices and stories of the pioneer women, the children, and the other memorable people they got to know. Nearly a hundred years later, New Yorker executive editor Dorothy Wickenden—the granddaughter of Dorothy Woodruff—found the letters and began to reconstruct the women’s journey. Enhancing the story with interviews with descendants, research about these vanished communities, and trips to the region, Wickenden creates an exhilarating saga about two intrepid young women and the “settling up” of the West.(less)

ebook, 304 pages

Published June 21st 2011 by Scribner

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Jul 10, 2011 Jane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Going out to western Colorado to teach in a two-room schoolhouse in the early days of the previous century must've been a bit like going to Siberia for the Peace Corps. Reading this book made me proud to have been a teacher, though my circumstances were never so tough as these gals experienced (walking to school for a couple of months when my car froze up in Dickinson comes close). At the beginning I thought the author was padding the book with too much extraneous information, like a long disser...more

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Mar 19, 2013 Suzanne Skelly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In the summer of 1916 Dorothy Woodruff and Rosimound Underwood bored by society luncheons, charity work and the men who courted them in Auburn, New York - left their families to teach school in the wilds of northwestern Colorado.

Living with homesteaders riding their horses for miles to arrive at their one room school house, these two woman spent house, these two women spent one year dedicating themselves to the children and families of the Elkhead Mountain School.

This delightful biography was w...more

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May 21, 2013 Kate Baxter rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The year is 1916 with two Smith College graduates, Dorothy Woodruf and Rosamond Underwood who are just not eager to settle into society luncheons and charity work as is expected of their station. They spot an advertisement accepting applications for two school teachers for a homesteading settlement in Elkhead, Colorado and are soon on their way west for a year's adventure. Neither had studied to be a teacher but they were eager, bright and willing to try. The story is revealed through the corres...more

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Mar 20, 2013 Theresa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love accounts of the American frontier, particularly America's Western frontier and women's roles therein. This book is a wonderful account of two society girls from Auburn, N.Y. --Dorothy Woodruff and her closest friend, Rosamond Underwood -- who, in the spring of 1916 take positions as school teachers, for a year, at a community-built schoolhouse in the Elkhead Mountains of Colorado. Wickenden culls the details of their adventure from a rich trove of family letters and interviews with the wo...more

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Feb 20, 2013 Patricia rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I could have given this 3 stars, really, as it was OK. But I realized that I wouldn't recommend it to a friend, so that made me give it 2. I actually did drive through Hayden, Colo, last summer, and I wish I had read this book before doing so, as it would have been fun to see the countryside with it in mind. It was also refreshing to read about women who didn't bow immediately to the demands of the times, with an early marriage and the life of a socialite in the East. Notice, though, the "immedi...more

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Feb 06, 2013 The Book Maven rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dorothy and Rosamunde were two very privileged young ladies living in early 20th century New York. However, society soirees and shopping and suitable courtships weren't enough to keep them occupied, and so they got it in their heads to answer and pursue a job announcement, beckoning young women out to Colorado to become teachers. Thus ensued a year of lessons, adventure...and not surprisingly, love.

A couple of impressions:

1. This book read like a combination of the later Little House on the Pr...more

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Feb 01, 2013 Cook Memorial Public Library rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-staff-favorites, biography-autobiography, nonfiction, visiting-author, book-club-book

Two Smith alums with adventure in their souls and nothing but boring marriage prospects knocking on their doors in New York, answer an ad to become teachers in the wilds of Colorado in 1916.

I loved these women and their willingness to jump into a situation in which they thought they could do some good in the world, despite their parents' concerns for their safety and the fact that they had no teacher training. Their year in Colorado was indeed a grand adventure with several moments of real dang...more

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Oct 04, 2012 Sally Wessely rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I had a very difficult time rating this book because there were aspects of the book that I really liked, but then, there were aspects that I did not like at all. I have come to believe that it is very difficult to write a narrative based on information gleaned from old letters, newspapers, public records, and oral histories. The story for this book was taken from all of these many resources. That meant that the story held a lot of interesting facts, anecdotes, and historical happenings. These we...more I had a very difficult time rating this book because there were aspects of the book that I really liked, but then, there were aspects that I did not like at all. I have come to believe that it is very difficult to write a narrative based on information gleaned from old letters, newspapers, public records, and oral histories. The story for this book was taken from all of these many resources. That meant that the story held a lot of interesting facts, anecdotes, and historical happenings. These were not woven together into a great narrative.

I loved the story itself. Is it a biography? I guess that we should characterize the book as a biography. That part of the book I love. I found the two school teachers who came to Colorado to teach in a rural school in 1916 fascinating to read about. I loved reading of their adventures. I admired their spunk and determination. I loved learning more about what early Colorado was like just after the turn of the century. My interest in some aspects of Colorado history was ignited. I see a road trip in the future to go see where these ladies lived and taught.

I found the notes, bibliography, and acknowledgements interesting too. I certainly thought the author put a lot of research into her project. I greatly admire what she achieved in writing this book. I see the book as a great resource for those who are interested in or love Colorado history.

Unfortunately, I also found the book frustrating at times. So many times, I felt as if I were just reading the stringing together of a bunch of notes of research that were woven into some sort of loosely connected and poorly constructed story. I was disappointed at times in the way the author threw information she gleaned into chapters. The personal story was mixed with historical facts in a way that made the entire book hard to follow at times, and boring at others. I think subheadings might have helped to separate the story from the historical facts.

I am glad I read this book. I did like it in so many ways. I do wish it had been constructed better. (less)

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Sep 20, 2012 Heather rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This amazing true story of two female friends who, with great pioneer spirit, accepted an opportunity to teach far and away from their comfort zone. They left their home in the East and ventured into the Colorado mountains near Steamboat Springs where they both blossomed during one of the snowiest years on record. This leap into the unknown proved to be the best year of their lives teaching them more that they perhaps taught their students. When their granddaughter (the author Dorothy Wickenden)...more

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Sep 12, 2012 Stacey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Beware..while elements of this book are narrative, this is pure non-fiction. Dorothy Wickenden does more than tell the story of her grandmother's 9 months as a teacher in remote, Pre-WWI Western Colorado. She fleshes out their experience by giving lots of background on the time period and the growth of the American West. If you are looking for a story filled with character growth/insight, you will not find it here.

That being said, I really enjoyed this read when I got comfortable with the struct...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Booknblues rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One would think that when an editor of a renown journal decides to write about her grandmother’s year of teaching in Colorado in the early 20th century that she would take the care to make it interesting and exciting, but one would be wrong. Nothing Daunted ; The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickenden is an exceptionally dry tale that jumps all over the place instead of following in a chronological line and goes on diversions which are profoundly uninteresting...more

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Jun 03, 2012 Jane Hoppe rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Nothing Daunted by Dorothy Wickenden

This book’s subtitle, The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West, says it all. Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood left Auburn, New York, to teach in Colorado during the 1916-17 school year. They lived with a family of homesteaders in the Elkhead settlement, which was near the town of Hayden in northwest Colorado; and they triumphed over all the obstacles you might imagine and had many adventures you might not imagine.

Nothing Daunted is way...more

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Jun 03, 2012 Jeanne rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was disappointed by this book. It is the story of the author's grandmother, who was a society girl who went to western Colorado to teach school in the pre-WWI era. So the back story is an interesting look at "society" and at the West, which is what I was hoping for. However, the telling of the tale falls short. The author uses many, many long quotes from letters, and intersperses background information (about the building of railways in the west, the various characters the two main characters...more

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Jun 01, 2012 Susy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I wanted to love this story which has the intriguing subtitle: The Unexpected Education of Two Scoiety Girls in the West, more than I did. Written by the granddaughter of one of the women, the story is based on her arduous research and collection of letters and interviews with surviving famiy members of the two ladies, but it's such a dry narrative.

Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamund Underwood, best friends and recent Smith College graduates, who have done a European tour, lived for a bit in New York...more

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May 30, 2012 Gina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I could not stop thinking of this book as a screenplay with (obviously) Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham Carter cast as the spunky, educated society girls who head to rural Colorado in the early 1900s to teach school for a year. Living myself 100 years later in rural Colorado about a two hour drive from where they lived, the book had some local interest for me. The ladies seem like absolutely delightful, adventurous people. The book had some issues, however. I couldn't stand the lack of pacing. I...more

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May 01, 2012 Dianne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thought I would enjoy this book more than I did. It felt as if the author had some interesting material with which to work, just not quite enough of it to write the book I was hoping for. So she filled it out with a lot of history of the time and place which was interesting in its own way but didn't help us to understand the experience of the the two young women schoolteachers who made the trek from Auburn, NY to a country schoolhouse in rural Colorado in 1916. The society in which they had be...more

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Jan 03, 2012 Jane rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood attended grade school and Smith College together. They spent nine months on a grand tour of Europe after college in 1910, and then, bored with society luncheons and chaperoned balls and no current prospects for marriage, they went off to teach the children of homesteaders in a remote schoolhouse on the Western Slope of Colorado.
Dorothy is presumably engaged during their 1 year term teaching but not much is mentioned about her future husband, nor do we get...more

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Dec 15, 2011 Alex Templeton rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I believe this book was based on an article that author (and New Yorker executive editor) Dorothy Wickenden wrote for that magazine, and that I read when it was published a while back. I think this was a case where the short form of the story appealed to me. Using letters and various other primary sources, as well as interviews with family members, Wickenden reconstructs the story of her grandmother's journey, along with her best friend, from New York society to teaching in a small Colorado mini...more

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Dec 14, 2011 Vikki rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the true story of Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood who went to Elkhead,Colorado in 1916 to teach school. They were from the East and had graduated from Smith College. This story is written by Dorothy's granddaughter, who is now an executive director for the New Yorker.
I loved this story. I am very familiar with this part of Colorado so that was fun. And I just love to read about life in the early part of the twentieth century. So this book suited me just fine. The superintendan...more

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Nov 03, 2011 Dee rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

This was a great non-fiction read. Great story of two women who really challenged themselves. Plus I loved the Colorado country.

Book Summary:

In the summer of 1916, Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood, close friends from childhood and graduates of Smith College, left home in Auburn, New York, for the wilds of northwestern Colorado. Bored by their soci-ety luncheons, charity work, and the effete young men who courted them, they learned that two teach-ing jobs were available in a remote mountai...more This was a great non-fiction read. Great story of two women who really challenged themselves. Plus I loved the Colorado country.

Book Summary:

In the summer of 1916, Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood, close friends from childhood and graduates of Smith College, left home in Auburn, New York, for the wilds of northwestern Colorado. Bored by their soci-ety luncheons, charity work, and the effete young men who courted them, they learned that two teach-ing jobs were available in a remote mountaintop schoolhouse and applied—shocking their families and friends. “No young lady in our town,” Dorothy later commented, “had ever been hired by anybody.”

They took the new railroad over the Continental Divide and made their way by spring wagon to the tiny settlement of Elkhead, where they lived with a family of homesteaders. They rode several miles to school each day on horseback, sometimes in blinding blizzards. Their students walked or skied on barrel staves, in tattered clothes and shoes tied together with string. The man who had lured them out west was Ferry Carpenter, a witty, idealistic, and occasionally outrageous young lawyer and cattle rancher. He had promised them the adventure of a lifetime and the most modern schoolhouse in Routt County; he hadn’t let on that the teachers would be considered dazzling prospective brides for the locals.

That year transformed the children, their families, and the undaunted teachers themselves. Dorothy and Rosamond learned how to handle unruly children who had never heard the Pledge of Allegiance and thought Ferry Carpenter was the president of the United States; they adeptly deflected the amorous advances of hopeful cowboys; and they saw one of their closest friends violently kidnapped by two coal miners. Carpenter’s marital scheme turned out to be more successful than even he had hoped and had a surprising twist some forty years later.

In their buoyant letters home, the two women captured the voices and stories of the pioneer women, the children, and the other memorable people they got to know. Nearly a hundred years later, New Yorker executive editor Dorothy Wickenden—the granddaughter of Dorothy Woodruff—found the letters and began to reconstruct the women’s journey. Enhancing the story with interviews with descendants, research about these vanished communities, and trips to the region, Wickenden creates an exhilarating saga about two intrepid young women and the “settling up” of the West.
(less)

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Oct 26, 2011 Pr Latta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: colorado, gentle-read, non-fiction

Note: the subtitle is misleading -- only about ⅓ of the book is actually about the teaching/Colorado experience. Unlike Catherine Marshall’s semi-autobiographical fiction Christy, there is much more history and less story/plot. Wickenden, granddaughter of Dorothy Woodruff, paints a picture of a long ago period, showing the reader the lifestyle of the almost-rich and not-too-famous Easterners and the challenges and courage of those who settled the West during the 20th century. Women’s suffrage, r...more

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Oct 07, 2011 Kathleen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book of nonfiction first began as an article I read in The New Yorker, "Roughing It: What Two Young Women Found in the Rockies." I loved the article because of its connections to Colorado, to education, and to intrepid women. So last week when I saw the longer book version in our little Charlotte Library, I took it out immediately and read it in three days. Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood were childhood friends from Auburn, NY, who graduated from Smith together in 1910. After a few...more This book of nonfiction first began as an article I read in The New Yorker, "Roughing It: What Two Young Women Found in the Rockies." I loved the article because of its connections to Colorado, to education, and to intrepid women. So last week when I saw the longer book version in our little Charlotte Library, I took it out immediately and read it in three days. Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood were childhood friends from Auburn, NY, who graduated from Smith together in 1910. After a few years of society teas, touring Europe and learning French, and some charity work, they still hadn't found the right men. So in 1916 they answered an ad for two teachers at a new school in northwestern Colorado--they with no teaching experience but good educations. Their new lives delighted them, even riding through blizzards to get to school and having to come up with lesson plans for all the grades (Dottie taught the first four unruly grades and Ros the upper levels). With the help of their families and friends back in New York, they provided new worlds, a library, and warm clothes for their students. Of course there are young Western men involved as well, Ferry Carpenter and Bob Perry, and a hostage situation. The story was reconstructed from letters written by the principal characters and passed down to Woodruff's granddaughter, who happens to be a New Yorker editor.

"The snowcapped mountains in the distance were purple and blue, their colors darkening with the movement of the clouds. The first sight of the building in the distance elicited a burst of eloquence from Ros. 'The schoolhouse stands high on a mountain or hill between the two districts called "Little Arkansas" and "Calf Creek." It is the Parthenon of Elkhead! You can see it for miles around and it looked so near that we were amazed to discover the real distance.' Dorothy wrote, 'They didn't have time to finish the road, so the last 200 yards you climb straight up through rocks and sage to the school. It is perfectly beautiful and a monument to the courage and ambition of these wonderful people.'" (109)

Here's a link to the original article: www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/04/2...
These two women who loved their students and this experience reminded me of my Colorado daughter-in-law, also well-educated, intrepid and delighted with most things!(less)

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Oct 03, 2011 The Library Lady rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-biography

Looking at the author blurb I was appalled to find that she teaches a course in "narrative non-fiction" to college students. Has she taken such a course herself?

She apparently has a wondrous cache of letter and other materials from her grandmother (Dorothy) and from Ros, but instead of letting them tell the story, she tells it herself and her style is flat and uninspired. The first part of the book is particularly bad--I assume she wants to fill in lots of background before getting to the meat...more

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Aug 27, 2011 John rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A beautifully written and researched book by the executive editor of the New Yorker magazine. The heart of the story occurs in 1916-1917. Dorothy Woodruff (grandmother of the author) and Rosamond Underwood, both single women in their late twenties, spent the year teaching in a one-room schoolhouse in the mountains of western Colorado. Nothing in their previous life experiences--childhoods in wealthy families, college at Smith, a grand tour of Europe--is of much value in their new environment. Ho...more

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Aug 11, 2011 Jillian Taylor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Do not read Nothing Daunted if you prefer to armchair travel. Dorothy Wickenden's account of her aunt's travels into the West in 1916 with her best friend will inspire you to pursue an adventure - at minimum a road trip.

Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamund Underwood were two society girls in Auburn, NY when they decided they needed something more in their lives than volunteer work and luncheons. They learned about a request for college-educated women to teach the children of Elkhead, Colorado. Dorothy...more

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Jul 23, 2011 Susann rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: fans of "Carney's House Party"

Returned this to the library weeks ago but am just getting around to my review. Maud Hart Lovelace fans, especially fans of Carney's House Party, will understand when I give this the alternate title of Win and Winkie Head West. It's the true story of Dorothy and Rosamond, two "society girls" from well-to-do Eastern families and graduates of Smith College (no, not Vassar, but close enough). In 1916, they set off on an adventure and accepted teaching jobs at a remote schoolhouse in Colorado.

The b...more

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Jul 10, 2011 Caren rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-nonfiction

This was such an interesting book. (It made me think of Ralph Moody's "Little Britches" series, in that most of the story took place at about the same time period as Moody's books, in Colorado.)One thing I have thought about quite a bit since reading the book is that such a book may become increasingly difficult to write. The author used the extensive diaries and correspondence of her grandmother to piece together the story. She also must be so fortunate as to be part of a family of "savers"---p...more This was such an interesting book. (It made me think of Ralph Moody's "Little Britches" series, in that most of the story took place at about the same time period as Moody's books, in Colorado.)One thing I have thought about quite a bit since reading the book is that such a book may become increasingly difficult to write. The author used the extensive diaries and correspondence of her grandmother to piece together the story. She also must be so fortunate as to be part of a family of "savers"---people who actually save old letters and papers in musty attics. It also may have helped that the author's mother and aunt were retired librarians, so they not only saved family papers, but saved them in an orderly way. I can't really imagine how a child of today will be able to preserve her grandmother's story based on tales handed down orally, since the grandmother may have only "corresponded" via emails and tweets. Ah, well....
The book is the true story of two young women living in the early years of the twentieth century. They were quite privileged in that they came from monied families and both graduated from Smith College. (My own grandmother would have been of a similar age at this time period. By way of contrast, she could only attend school through eighth grade, then had a year of "business school", and went to work in an office by age sixteen, giving her income to her parents to help support the family. I am sure her story was more typical of most young women of that time.) Dorothy (or "Dot"--the author's grandmother) and Rosamond ("Ros") had been chums from a young age. (This aspect of the book reminded me a lot of the Betsy-Tacy books of Maude Hart Lovelace, although Lovelaces's families were not quite as wealthy.)After college, most of their peers married and started families. There were few professions open to women then. Social work and "settlement houses" were a very new profession. Their class of women didn't typically work for pay anyway. Because they apparently had doting, indulgent parents, the girls had a yearlong adventure touring Europe. After they returned home, they settled into attending teas and social events, but were restless. Through a friend, they heard of an opening for two school teachers in a one-room-schoolhouse in Colorado, which really was the Wild West at that time. Unbeknownst to them, an upcoming lawyer (an Ivy League man himself), "Ferry" Carpenter, in trying to civilize and develop the raw Colorado towns near his homestead, decided that he could solve two problems at once. He could recruit young educated women to teach the children of ranchers and homesteaders, and at the same time, get some attractive young women to come west as potential marriage partners for the overwhelmingly male population of cowboys and ranchers. Hence, even though Dot and Ros had never taught, the fact that they were college-educated was sufficient. Oh, and all applicants had to send pictures of themselves, which were put up around Ferry's law office for the men in town to judge!
The story of Dot and Ros's adventure is charmingly told. The young women boarded with a homesteading family and, with a lot of spunk and good spirit, became beloved by the children they taught and their families. Indeed, one of them did marry a Coloradoan. The author touches on other events of the period, such as the building of railroads in the west and the entry of the USA into World War I. As a social history of early Colorado, this is a lovely, absorbing book.(less)

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Jun 26, 2011 Lynne Spreen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is about two wealthy and vivacious young women who, feeling unchallenged by their upper-class prospects in the early 1900s (marry well, have children, support philanthropy - yawn) rebelled by applying for jobs as school teachers in a primitive Colorado frontier town.

As a historical work, it was comprehensive but not always compelling. For example, I thought the descriptions of some of the peripheral characters were too detailed. As a memoir, the main characters were a bit one-dimensio...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Anne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved this story of life in America in the early 20th Century. Although the main story focuses on the two society girls from New York (Ros and Dorothy) who brave the Western frontier to teach in a one-room school house, the author does a wonderful job of painting the historical backdrop of their story. This is really about westward expansion and the way this changed America. It was fascinating to read about the lives of these two women, who were born into privileged families. They were educate...more I loved this story of life in America in the early 20th Century. Although the main story focuses on the two society girls from New York (Ros and Dorothy) who brave the Western frontier to teach in a one-room school house, the author does a wonderful job of painting the historical backdrop of their story. This is really about westward expansion and the way this changed America. It was fascinating to read about the lives of these two women, who were born into privileged families. They were educated at Smith (women attending college was still a novelty at this time), suffragettes (women didn't get the vote on the national level until 1920), and world travelers. It really was astounding for them to leave their life of high class society and comfort to venture to a place with little in the way of modern conveniences. Their lives, and the lives of their neighbors and friends, in rural Colorado were fraught with many difficulties. Although their connections and money afforded them a better life than most of the families living in the 'frontier,' they still did not have it easy. It was fascinating to read about what life was like without modern conveniences such as cars, indoor plumbing, or how people dealt with storms, sickness, and lack of food in a world without convenient grocery stores or modern medicine. It was almost unbelievable that children would walk eight miles to school in neck-high snow to get an education, but they did. As a teacher, I loved hearing about how these "newbie" teachers handled discipline, lesson planning, and making use of whatever materials and technology (or lack thereof) they had at hand to give their students the best education possible. I could definitely relate to their struggles, as well as their triumphs. They truly made a huge difference in the lives of the children they taught, and the townsfolk they bonded with. This was a very inspiring, uplifting story, though it was not without its moments of tragedy (such is life). Highly recommended, though don't expect it to read like a novel. This is a biography of two women and a historical study on the time in which they lived. Fascinating if you're a history buff like me. I would highly recommend.(less)

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Jan 03, 2012 Anne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: clean-reads, history

I'm a little burned out on the "short story padded with a huge amount of surrounding historical details to make it book-length" genre at the moment. I'm on vacation, though, and this is the only book I brought along.
I picked it up, because I'm a sucker for women's histories and adventures, and I'm an alum of Smith as these women were. However, as I said, I've encountered too many books like this lately to really be thrilled by all the detail about the women's neighbors and such like. Anyway......more

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About Dorothy Wickenden

Dorothy Wickenden became the Executive Editor of The New Yorker in January 1996. She joined the magazine as Managing Editor in March 1995. She also writes for the magazine and is the moderator of its weekly podcast "The Political Scene." Wickenden is on the faculty of The Writers' Institute at CUNY's Graduate Center, where she teaches a course on narrative nonfiction.

Previously, Wickenden was Nati...more

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11399540-nothing-daunted?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344394873l/11399540.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11399540-nothing-daunted?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickenden[/url]

Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West

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