Forty Years of Friendship: Letters, 1921-1960 - Hardcover

Dorothy Thompson; Rose Wilder Lane

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0826206468 ISBN 13: 9780826206466

Publisher: University of Missouri Press, 1991

Synopsis

The friendship between Dorothy Thompson and Rose Wilder Lane began in 1920 in the publicity office of the American Red Cross in Paris and continued until Thompson's death in 1961. Although both women are today remembered primarily for their connections with others - Thompson as the wife of Sinclair Lewis and Lane as the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the ""Little House"" books - each can be regarded as remarkable in her own right. Both women are described as having had a vital engagement with life that led them in fearless pursuit of experience. In 1939, Thompson appeared on the cover of ""Time"", which judged her second only to Eleanor Roosevelt among the influential women of the day. Typical of Lane were her travels through the mountains of Albania, the deserts of Syria and Soviet Georgia in the 1920s and her visit as a journalist to Vietnam in 1965 at the age of 78. The correspondence of these two women reveals their personal concerns, social ideas and political/economic philosophies and how they changed over time. Their letters tell the story of the first generation of women to come of age during the 20th century, as they tried to cope with problems that still face women today. Along with the letters themselves, Holtz has included annotations and footnotes that provide biographical information, as well as explaining personal and topical references.

About this title

Review:

"Holtz . . . proves that carefully compiled, painstakingly edited correspondence, even between two women who are not exactly household names, can be instructive, fascinating, disturbing and delightful."--History: Reviews of Books Holtz's "introductory remarks to each section of the book are gracefully done. . . . Two vibrant personalities emerge." Thompson and Lane's "extraordinary conversation, begun on a walking tour of the Loire valley, continues in letters throughout their lives."--New York Times Book Review

About the Author:

About the Editor William Holtz is Professor of English at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He is the editor of Travels with Zenobia: Paris to Albania by Model T Ford; a Journal by Rose Wilder Lane and Helen Dore Boylston.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Missouri Press
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0826206468
• ISBN 13: 9780826206466
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 232
• Editor: William Holtz