Covered Wagon Women: Diaries & Letters from the Western Trails 1879-1903, vol. 11, edited by Kenneth L. Holmes

The stories seem simple-they left, they traveled, they settled, yet the restless westering impulses of Americans created one of the most enduring figures in our frontier pantheon: the hardy pioneer persevering against all odds. Undeterred by storms, ruthless bandits, towering mountains, and raging epidemics, the women in this volume suggest why the pioneer represented the highest ideals and aspirations of a young nation. In this concluding volume of the Covered Wagon Women series, we see the final animal-powered overland migrations that were even then yielding to railroad travel and in a few short years, to the automobile. The diaries and letters resonate with the vigor and spirit that made possible the settling and community-building of the American West.