Abstract
As I was reading Anita Clair Fellman's study, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis was successfully staging the world premiere of a musical based on the Little House books. That seemed definitive proof—if the spin-off into the long-running tv series was not enough—that Laura Ingalls Wilder's modest frontier tales are firmly lodged in the far reaches of American popular culture. But, of course, Minneapolis is not Broadway (though Fellman mentions failed attempts at turning the books into a New York City musical), and a major motion picture has yet to appear, so there are still entertainment realms to conquer. Fellman's title, Little House, Long Shadow, neatly suggests the overall aim of her study: to trace the ongoing popularity of the seven books (or nine, depending on how you count) and to ponder their deep effect on American attitudes. After retelling at length the real-life story on which the books were based and then the collaborative effort of Laura Wilder and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, to turn the story into popular fiction for children, she takes up her task with detailed chapters (underpinned with over fifty pages of notes) on how the books have been used in homes, classrooms, public settings, and national politics.
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