Some might argue that the libertarianism of the Little House books was more unconscious than intentional, and that the basic stories were true—that Rose simply influenced how the details were fleshed out.119 But the stories were not true, not in their details and not in their overall framework. In the Ingallses’ real lives, hard work didn’t bring success. Nor were they rugged individuals: they relied on neighbors and community for their very survival, and their presence on the frontier was predicated on the federal government’s removal of native Osage peoples and distribution of their land to
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