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The Real-life Laura Ingalls Wilder

Public Domain, Wikipedia

Thursday, we’re talking about the real-life Laura Ingalls Wilder and how her story compares to the mythic American history many of us absorbed through her wildly popular series The Little House books.

RadioWest divider.

Many of us know - or think we know - Laura Ingalls Wilder. The Little House books have sold over sixty million copies, and of course, there was the wildly popular television series based on her work. But biographer Caroline Fraser says the Little House series was an act of myth-making that reflected the romantic American ideal of self-reliance. Wilder’s life was much darker and much more complicated. Thursday, Fraser joins us to talk about the real woman behind a beloved American classic.

Caroline Fraser is an editor and writer. She edited the Library of America Edition of The Little House books [Amazon] and is the author of Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder [Indie bookstores|Amazon|Audible]

Doug Fabrizio has been reporting for KUER News since 1987, and became News Director in 1993. In 2001, he became host and executive producer of KUER's RadioWest, a one hour conversation/call-in show on KUER 90.1 in Salt Lake City. He has gained a reputation for his thoughtful style. He has interviewed everyone from Isabel Allende to the Dalai Lama, and from Madeleine Albright to Desmond Tutu. His interview skills landed him a spot as a guest host of the national NPR program, "Talk of the Nation." He has won numerous awards for his reporting and for his work with RadioWest and KUED's Utah NOW from such organizations as the Society of Professional Journalists, the Utah Broadcasters Association, the Public Radio News Directors Association and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.