5. This American Life

Wilder

Influential Media

Documentary, Books, Arts, History, Society & Culture

4.8 • 574 Ratings

🗓️ 6 July 2023

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

One of the reasons the Little House books are so compelling is because Laura Ingalls was a real person. She lived the experiences she wrote about. These things actually happened. But also? She’s a real person, with serious flaws, problematic family members (oh hey, Pa) and traumas she simply couldn’t face in her writing. This week, we’re fact checking the books. What is actually true? What is made up? And what is left out entirely? This one’s for you, Jack the dog. Go deeper: Caroline Fraser’s Prairie FiresVisit the Laura’s birthplace in Pepin, Wisconsin Visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder Park & Museum in Burr Oak, Iowa Edit 7/10: Dr. Debbie Reese posted about this episode, specifically commenting on Jack the dog and the phrase "happy hunting grounds" in her blog, American Indians in Children's Literature. Follow us for behind the scenes content! @WilderPodcast on TikTok@Wilder_Podcast on Instagram We want to hear from you! If listening to Wilder has changed your thinking on Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House books, send a voice memo to wilderpodcast@gmail.com. You might be featured in our final episode ;) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is an I-Heart podcast.
0:02.5	Guaranteed Human.
0:07.4	I love the sign of Laura and Almanzo's height.
0:11.2	Oh, there's a sign of the height?
0:12.4	Yeah, Almanzo was only prized four.
0:14.5	So here's the great irony of Laura Ingalls-Wilder.
0:17.1	On the one hand, part of the deep magic she works,
0:20.1	the reason so many people, including me, are devoted to her from childhood, is that she's a real person.
0:27.2	Gosh, I want to stand up against it. All right, so Laura was 411.
0:31.2	You're a few inches taller than El Manzo.
0:34.3	Wow.
0:35.7	The story she wrote actually happened.
0:38.3	Well, Laura talks about it's half pint.
0:40.3	She always talks a lot in the books about how short she is.
0:43.3	And then when she went to teach school for the first time, how much, how tiny she was in comparison
0:48.3	to the students she had to teach.
0:52.3	You open her books and it's as though you step into her world and then walk along with her every step of the way.
0:59.0	Eventually her story becomes your story.
1:03.0	And then you can go out on the road and see it all for yourself.
1:08.0	But that really puts it in context.
1:10.0	On the other hand, she's a real thing. You can see it all for yourself. But that really puts it in context.
1:12.6	On the other hand, she's a real person with serious flaws.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Influential Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Influential Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.