I wonder if it will include some of the darker childhood details from Laura and the family revealed later in her life. Domestic violence, alcoholism, sexual abuse, shiftlessness, atrocities from the Indian Wars on the expanding frontier, mental illness, and usury violations all were a part of the picture of that life there.
Did you know there might have been a connection between the famous historical serial killers the “Bloody Benders” and a VERY famous series of children’s books?According to a speech given by acclaimed author Laura Ingalls Wilder at a book fair back in 1937, she claimed to have kept a story of her family’s encounter with the notorious murderers out of the Little House books because she didn’t believe it appropriate for a children’s saga. (FYI, the Bloody Benders, also known as “America’s first serial killers,” were a family that owned an inn and general store in Kansas, near where Wilder’s family lived. It’s believed that the Benders brutally killed at least 12 travelers passing through the area.)
Sounds like you may have read “Prairie Fires” — an excellent bio. My recollection of it is that Laura Ingalls Wilder had a rather ordinary life, with the usual trials and hardships of that era. It was when her daughter reached puberty that things turned . . . wilder. That daughter of hers was a real pistol.
That’s just what America needs. A dark, drunken, rapey, abusive version of Little House on the Prairie.
I hope not. The original was wholesome and uplifting. If I wanted to have all the darkness of the world thrown in my face, I’d watch the news.
What? Where did you read all this?