While there are many beautiful descriptions and deep sympathy for the fate of "The Red Men",
Hamilin Garland continues -
despite his expressed beliefs in the equality of women in marriage -
to make All the decisions for his family.

His selfish choices result in deserting his Mother just before her impending death
and with subjecting his sick children to the bad health conditions of a city for many years.

(And, the longest marriage Non-proposal ever...)

He goes on and on and on about his alleged poverty - then hops on a train to travel Everywhere -
and on and on and on about The Past, The Past, The Past. Way enough.

Other choices remain a mystery - why he subjected himself, his beloved horse and his old friend
to impossible and predictable weather and terrain challenges for SIX long months defies comprehension. ( )

Hamlin Garland opens up life in both Wisconsin and the mountains out West the late 1800s, then proceeds to illuminate Chicago and New York City in the early 1900s.
An early believer in equal marriage and feminism, his writings were unique though they took a long time to be valued. Though proud and with a slow growing reputation,
he remained honest about himself, his disappointments, his restless feelings and depressions. This book is the sequel to SON OF THE MIDDLE BORDER. Both are
invaluable for understanding the early settlers of Middle Wisconsin. ( )

1687 A Daughter of the Middle Border, by Hamlin Garland (read 10 Jan 1982) (Pulitzer Biography prize for 1922) This is the direct sequel of A Son of the Middle Border, covering the time up to Garland's father's death in 1914. It is really a repulsive book. Garland is a super-pessimist. When he talks about good times he bemoans the fact that they are past--his bemoaning of past misfortunes seems to be what he likes. Obviously the poor guy had no Faith and he would have been a lot better off with such. The book is an awful book, and I am glad to be done with it. ( )