Cathy Luchetti

Women of the West tells the stories of women who travelled across America in the 1800s to new lives in the West. This is a great book. I think what I like most about it is the breadth of experience that Luchetti has included - white women, black women, Indian women, European women, rich women, poor women, mothers, educators, business women, religious women. The sources used are mainly diaries, memoirs and letters which give vivid, personal accounts of the terrible hardships that many of these women experienced, the monotony of rural life, the strength they drew from their beliefs and the opportunitites that some of them were able to take.

The writings are accompanied by some wonderful photographs, not only of the writers themselves but also of the landscapes and communities of the West.… (meer)