"An elegant connective narrative and 150 remarkable photographs put ....the [nineteenth] century's history in more realistic perspective."— Los Angeles Times

Winner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award.

A myth-shattering look at the women who helped to settle the West, told through their own words and illustrated with 150 period photographs. Through these photos, plus diaries, memoirs, letters, and journals, Women of the West introduces 11 real frontier women whose words combine to re-create a place and time when resourcefulness and courage were demanded of everyone. This is American history, not as it was romanticized, but as it was lived. "An authentic, refreshing and even inspiring view of life on the frontier."— San Francisco Chronicle "[H]andled with a very human touch throughout all these diaries.... this is quite a book."— Seattle Times "[A] human appeal rarely touched in most history books of the westward expansion."— Kansas City Star "Anyone interested in American history should read [it]....the most handsome of recent books emphasizing the role of pioneer women."— Cleveland Plain Dealer "[Evokes] a striking portrait of everyday life among nineteenth-century women."— St. Petersburg Times 150 period photographs