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The Ghost in the Little House: A Life of Rose Wilder Lane
"Drawing on diaries and letters, Holtz . . . details Lane's life (1886-1968) in an engrossing study that highlights her troubled relationship with an apparently cold and manipulative mother".--Publishers Weekly. Illustrations.
Paperback, 448 pages
Published
April 1st 1995
by University of Missouri Press
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I'm a huge fan of the Little House Books, even more as an adult than I was as a child. I know that this book has met with a certain amount of disdain by other fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder, but I found it fascinating. The author makes a compelling argument that Rose Wilder Lane, the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder, did so much rewriting of her mother's books that she could actually be considered the author.
Reading snippets of Laura's writings, then the finished project, it's clear t...more
Reading snippets of Laura's writings, then the finished project, it's clear t...more
Interesting story of the legacy the real Laura Ingalls Wilder--apparently very unHalfpint-like woman. Rather a stern and unfeeling woman .. very 19th century Protestant demeanor.
Rose Wilder Lane now, she was quite an interesting pioneer of the early 20th century Libertarian school of thought. She accomplished quite a bit with the handicap of depression, self-doubt and lack of formal education. I always believed she probably had a strong hand in what her mother did. LIW did write...more
Rose Wilder Lane now, she was quite an interesting pioneer of the early 20th century Libertarian school of thought. She accomplished quite a bit with the handicap of depression, self-doubt and lack of formal education. I always believed she probably had a strong hand in what her mother did. LIW did write...more
A big step in my Ingalls-Wilder obsession - this is an academic biography of Rose. The author really glosses over her childhood to a great extent - I'd love to know how those years compared to the MacBride books, but there's nothing here. He casts the Laura-Rose / mother-daughter relationship as a very strained emotional tug-of-war, but on the other hand, doesn't really have a lot of insight into it. I found a lot of the travel and political sections surprisingly dull, actually. This is a ni...more
This was one of my first choices for book club this year, but alas, with only one copy in the public library, it just wasn't available enough to be a choice.
But holy cow, what a great book club book this would be! Rose was an amazing woman--she traveled extensively throughout her life, including visiting Baghdad in the early 1920s. The snippets of writing from letters, journals and published works reveal a strong, independent mind.
And oh yes, she's the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wil...more
But holy cow, what a great book club book this would be! Rose was an amazing woman--she traveled extensively throughout her life, including visiting Baghdad in the early 1920s. The snippets of writing from letters, journals and published works reveal a strong, independent mind.
And oh yes, she's the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wil...more
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This is the book that I mentioned in my review of Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder, the one that contends that Laura’s daughter Rose ghostwrote the Little House series. I read it with the expectation that the author would provide documentary evidence for his thesis, but unfortunately, the excerpts comparing Laura’s manuscripts to Rose’s edits are shown only in an appendix at the end. These particular excerpts do indeed support his thesis - Rose’s edits gave the text life - but there were too few ex...more
By her own admission, Rose Wilder Lane was very often angry, bitter, and depressed. She was an incredibly intelligent, talented woman, as well, who had a lifelong love-hate, passive-aggressive relationship with her headstrong mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder. The author of this book seems intent on portraying Laura only as she was seen through the eyes of her frequently sullen, resentful daughter, and tries to convince his audience that it was Rose who wrote the Little House books. Anyone who has re...more
This is an exhaustive biography, so if you read it, don't think you'll get through it quickly. RWL was a huge fan of correspondence, and the author and various libraries have managed to collect so many of her letters, that this could have almost been an autobiography.
I found myself alternating between complete admiration (her world travels, alone, as a woman, at a time when women didn't do that sort of thing...and the incredible danger of it all) or pity (she often seems so very a...more
I found myself alternating between complete admiration (her world travels, alone, as a woman, at a time when women didn't do that sort of thing...and the incredible danger of it all) or pity (she often seems so very a...more
I really didn't like this one. Holz's thesis that Rose Wilder Lane was the ghost writer of the Little House books is pretty extreme, and stretches a great deal of the evidence and ignores other things. He also seemed to be deadset upon portraying Laura Ingalls Wilder as a horrible mother, who was incredibly manipulative of her daughter. I wish this book had been written by a less-biased author.
I find it hard to believe Holtz's theory that Laura had no writing talent at all -- given that she had written for the Missouri Ruralist for years -- and that Rose was the sole responsible person for the Little House series. The parts about Rose herself was fascinating. The slandering of Laura (and to a lesser degree, Almanzo) was not.
Amazing, tremendously underrated woman. Was she or wasn't she the ghostwriter behind the Little House books? Holtz makes the argument that she is. RWL's mother Laura Ingalls Wilder is portrayed as an imperfect human being with harsh sides of her personality which I think is understandable, given what she faced in her early life.
I absolutely adored this book. I came to it simply as a LHOTP fan but quickly became enraptured with Rose Lane. What an amazing life and writer. I am looking forward to reading some of her own writings next.
A good start that another author should build upon.
Rose Wilder Lane rewrote all her mother's books before they were published! Who knew?
I'm readig this because of Borrowed Names. I'm intrigued by the idea that Rose was the true genius behind the Little House books. I'll let you know what I discover.
I only skimmed the last bit of the book. It's hard to believe that the Little House books wouldn't be what they are if Rose Wilder Lane hadn't edited and revised them.
I only skimmed the last bit of the book. It's hard to believe that the Little House books wouldn't be what they are if Rose Wilder Lane hadn't edited and revised them.
Got half-way through and decided not to continue. May pick it up again at a later date.
I know this wasn't popular with LIW fans when it came out (Wilder isn't portrayed in the most positive light), but I found many of the Holtz's claims on authorship of the little house books to be fairly persuasive. I do think he had a tendency to take RWL's opinions as the gospel,so I'm not sure how accurate his depiction of Wilder was.
Well worth reading if you are a Little House fan -- a very academic biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter, Rose. Rose herself led a very interesting life and, according to William Holtz, is the ghost writer that made the Little House books what they are.
This books supports the idea that Rose Wilder Lane actually wrote the Little House Books in addition to her mother and should be credited with authorship in addition to her mother. Her life as a reporter and writer is very fascinating as the author discusses her travels and writing.
How growing up as the daughter of a famous historical fiction writer who used her own family's history as source material affected the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder. What was Rose's life really like? Here's her answer.
Laura
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Something about winter always makes me want to dig out my old kids books and read them. On one of the forums I frequent, someone mentioned this in the "Little House" thread.
Brian Herberger
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Stef
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Heather Hazel
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