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Here’s more about Rose’s political beliefs and their influence on the project https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/little-house-on-the-prairie-conser

Here’s more about Rose’s political beliefs and their influence on the project https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/little-house-on-the-prairie-conservatism-214237/ https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/little-house...

jeffbee 4y ago
If you want pioneer stories without any Ayn Rand sprinkled on top, try Willa Cather.
- dgfitz 4y ago
  Given the current state of affairs it looks like Ayn might have been ahead of her time.
- sleightofmind 4y ago
  It's been a long time since I read My Antonia. Loved it. If memory serves, though, wasn't the main male character quite the self-made man? Again, it's been a while. Beautiful picture of the harsh reality, and stark beauty of life on the plains. If you want Ayn Rand that makes sense, read We the Living, in my opinion, by far her best work. As a matter of fact, I'd say Ayn Rand's three major works, can be rated worst to best with length being the determining factor. Worst -- Atlas Shrugged. If ever a book needed an editor of steely resolve, it was that windbag of a novel -- would have been great at 1/2 it's length. The Fountainhead was tighter and better. But We the Living is the best because it is set in the world of her youth and makes her rah-rah cheerleading for capitalism and her deep hatred of communism completely relatable in context. The story never leaves the Soviet Union, so it's very different from her other work. I love capitalism, but reading Atlas Shrugged left me feeling like this is one hard woman. Reading We the Living left me feeling like now I get it -- I'd be hard, too.
  - Maursault 4y ago
    Even notably bad writing, even if espousing the fatally flawed and incomplete ideology of Objectivism, leading to the fatally flawed political movement of Libertarianism, which if practiced ultimately results in pure Socialism, may be ranked: bad, worse, and worst. I couldn't say exactly who the singular worst popular writer of the 20th Century was, but certainly Rand must be a strong contender.
indigodaddy 4y ago
Another one also related to that: https://unherd.com/2022/06/the-myth-of-american-conservatism/ https://unherd.com/2022/06/the-myth-of-american-conservatism...
- noSyncCloud 4y ago
  Great article, thanks.
JKCalhoun 4y ago
> Elsewhere, the books minimize the role of government in the life of a family that sometimes did have to rely on it, as they took free land and benefited from state funds that paid sister Mary Ingalls’s tuition at the Iowa School for the Blind for seven years, a public subsidy the books quietly omit. Wow.
- samatman 4y ago
  This is, as far as my recollections of reading the entire series as a preteen goes, absurd. It's called the Iowa School for the Blind. It would never have occurred to the audience that the education wasn't provided by the state. It's called the.. never mind, I said that already.
- noah_buddy 4y ago
  Ah, yes, the government, the rightful owner of all, ahem, ‘unclaimed’ land.
kodah 4y ago
> Elsewhere, the books minimize the role of government in the life of a family that sometimes did have to rely on it, as they took free land and benefited from state funds that paid sister Mary Ingalls’s tuition at the Iowa School for the Blind for seven years, a public subsidy the books quietly omit. There was also a roller rink near where they lived. LH is a work of fiction. When I read the series it was advertised as such. I don't think it discounts the story much, because the real story is about Laura and how she experienced the world. Laura lived through quite a bit and the story was shaped to emphasize those things.
peter303 4y ago
Rose is considered a founder of American Libertarian movement. People debate whether some these ideas crept into her Moms books which Rose heavily edited.

jeffbee 4y ago

If you want pioneer stories without any Ayn Rand sprinkled on top, try Willa Cather.

dgfitz 4y ago
Given the current state of affairs it looks like Ayn might have been ahead of her time.
sleightofmind 4y ago
It's been a long time since I read My Antonia. Loved it. If memory serves, though, wasn't the main male character quite the self-made man? Again, it's been a while. Beautiful picture of the harsh reality, and stark beauty of life on the plains. If you want Ayn Rand that makes sense, read We the Living, in my opinion, by far her best work. As a matter of fact, I'd say Ayn Rand's three major works, can be rated worst to best with length being the determining factor. Worst -- Atlas Shrugged. If ever a book needed an editor of steely resolve, it was that windbag of a novel -- would have been great at 1/2 it's length. The Fountainhead was tighter and better. But We the Living is the best because it is set in the world of her youth and makes her rah-rah cheerleading for capitalism and her deep hatred of communism completely relatable in context. The story never leaves the Soviet Union, so it's very different from her other work. I love capitalism, but reading Atlas Shrugged left me feeling like this is one hard woman. Reading We the Living left me feeling like now I get it -- I'd be hard, too.
- Maursault 4y ago
  Even notably bad writing, even if espousing the fatally flawed and incomplete ideology of Objectivism, leading to the fatally flawed political movement of Libertarianism, which if practiced ultimately results in pure Socialism, may be ranked: bad, worse, and worst. I couldn't say exactly who the singular worst popular writer of the 20th Century was, but certainly Rand must be a strong contender.

indigodaddy 4y ago

Another one also related to that: https://unherd.com/2022/06/the-myth-of-american-conservatism/ https://unherd.com/2022/06/the-myth-of-american-conservatism...

noSyncCloud 4y ago
Great article, thanks.

JKCalhoun 4y ago

samatman 4y ago
This is, as far as my recollections of reading the entire series as a preteen goes, absurd. It's called the Iowa School for the Blind. It would never have occurred to the audience that the education wasn't provided by the state. It's called the.. never mind, I said that already.
noah_buddy 4y ago
Ah, yes, the government, the rightful owner of all, ahem, ‘unclaimed’ land.

kodah 4y ago

> Elsewhere, the books minimize the role of government in the life of a family that sometimes did have to rely on it, as they took free land and benefited from state funds that paid sister Mary Ingalls’s tuition at the Iowa School for the Blind for seven years, a public subsidy the books quietly omit. There was also a roller rink near where they lived. LH is a work of fiction. When I read the series it was advertised as such. I don't think it discounts the story much, because the real story is about Laura and how she experienced the world. Laura lived through quite a bit and the story was shaped to emphasize those things.

peter303 4y ago

Rose is considered a founder of American Libertarian movement. People debate whether some these ideas crept into her Moms books which Rose heavily edited.