O Pioneers! (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition)

About this book

Willa Cather established her reputation as a writer of extraordinary talent with the publication of O Pioneers!-the first of her books set in Nebraska. In this stirring romance of the Western prairies, the lives of two very different heroines unfold during a time when the wild lands of the frontier broke the spirit of many of America's hopeful Swedish, Czech, Bohemian, and French immigrant farmers. When Alexandra Bergson inherits the family farm as a young girl, she reveals herself to be as uncommonly determined, enterprising, and capable as she is charismatic. Meanwhile, the relationship between Alexandra's brother Emil and the beautiful Marie Shabata plays out in what many critics view as some of Cather's finest writing. Throughout, the land itself emerges as a character that challenges and changes the lives it supports. Cather's descriptions of the territory and its people evoke a time and place long gone but foundational in forming our national character. This Warbler Classics edition includes key reviews of the first edition and a biographical timeline.