Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey

This book compiles women's diaries from the westward movement. Reading it will make you proud to be a woman, as well as appreciate the convenience of living in this time period. I still get goose bumps thinking about some of the stories and the courage of the men, women and children who made that journey. It is a delightful step back to another time with the diaries of real women. Makes a great gift, too.

These are great because these women kept a diary of actual experiences and how they felt. Also how they dealt with the hardships and kept their faith thru it all. Very eye opening for what they had to deal with ad their view of the land, Indians, death and hardship....also moments of love and sharing with the other families on the trail.

I could hardly put this book down. The true historical stories about women and their lives during the Westward Journey across the country is fascinating, heart wrenching, touching, raw, and just an excellent historical read. I've read it several times now. It makes for an excellent gift for anyone who enjoys reading historical true-to-life stories.

Not my favorite read. I enjoy most books based on the past, but this one didn’t keep my attention.

Read diaries a second time and shared with woman in my life.

There is nothing new in this book about the trek west. If the settlers had any imagination, they should have assumed the worst and been prepared for it. The book points out repeatedly the work of cooking, cleaning, gathering, setting up camp, taking down camp and driving the teams were done by women all of whom were over-dressed for the trail and weather. With the women doing all the work, what did the men do? They weren’t any good at hunting the author points out. The women could drive the team as well, so beside argue and go in the wrong direction, why follow the fools into the wilderness? While the men seemed desperate to find just the right place to settle, the women were more so for putting up with their follie and worked overtime to allow it to happen. While the author examines the lives of several women, their messages were repeated too often throughout the book - they were I’ll prepared, had no idea what they were doing or how to get to their final destination. It was a miracle any of them survived.

Very interesting on the history of the westward movement for women. This time of history was not romantic as you seen in movies and shows. These women went through "hell" during this time.

This is a slightly more academic book (which is why it didn't get 5 stars), but should be interesting for a range of adult or older teen readers.There are several extended quotes of diaries at the back of the book (definitely not the whole diary), and snippets throughout the chapters, but most of the writing is the author explaining things to the reader.There are also pictures of some of the diary writers who are quoted. (Why do they always look stern?)The hardships these women (families) went through are incredible, physical and mental.Think of camping on the open plains for 5 months,finding food & water from the land (or sometimes indians),being sick (and for many people, dying) with no doctor, medicine, or hospital around,and since many women travelled while pregnant - giving birth in a covered wagon, then moving on the next day.Many travelled with children, some of whom died & had to be buried, never to visit their grave again. In some cases, people were buried under the trail, so the grave would be obliterated and the indians wouldn't know where to dig to get their clothing.

This is a fascinating book for anyone interested in the 'home front ' side of the wagon train."Go west ,young man" , the usual stories don't take into account the horrors for young women, some with children, some pregnant and giving birth on the prairie, miles from home and help. And the lonely graves .A real eye-opener and well worth reading.

Ce recueil est très intéressant et se lit très bien, dommage qu'il n'y ai pas de traduction pour les non anglicistes.