Books with title Oh Pioneers!

On the harsh and wild frontier of the American West, Alexandra Bergson struggles to fulfill her father's dying wish of establishing his family on the Nebraska table lands. Through hard times and abundant, through love and loss, through joy and suffering, Alexandra challenges both her family and the land in her quiet, honest way. Cather's realistic depiction of life on the prairie is anchored by a smart, strong, independent heroine and heart-achingly beautiful prose which evokes both the melancholy and the awe-inspiring beauty of middle America at the turn of the century.

Set on the Nebraska prairie where Willa Cather (1873–1947) grew up, this powerful early novel tells the story of the young Alexandra Bergson, whose dying father leaves her in charge of the family and of the lands they have struggled to farm. In Alexandra's long flight to survive and succeed, O Pioneers! relates an important chapter in the history of the American frontier.Evoking the harsh grandeur of the prairie, this landmark of American fiction unfurls a saga of love, greed, murder, failed dreams, and hard-won triumph. In the fateful interaction of her characters, Willa Cather compares with keen insight the experiences of Swedish, French, and Bohemian immigrants in the United States. And in her absorbing narrative, she displays the virtuoso storytelling skills that have made her one of the most admired masters of the American novel.

Cather invents a fictional town in early twentieth century Nebraska to tell the coming-of-age story of the Bergsons, a family of Swedish immigrants. Alexandra Bergson, the eldest of the Bergson children doggedly persists during the worst of times to become a wealthy, independent landowner. The novel is also concerned with two romantic relationships, one between Alexandra and family friend Carl Linstrum and the other between Alexandra's brother Emil and the married Marie Shabata.

"A direct, human tale of love and struggle and attainment—American in the best sense of the word."—The New York TimesOn the windy Nebraska prairie, Alexandra Bergson tends to the failing farm that she inherited from her father. She struggles to raise her brothers on her own. And she is torn by the emergence of an unexpected passion…A magnificent story, O Pioneers!—Willa Cather’s second novel—has become one of the great classics of American literature, telling a timeless tale of a strong pioneer woman facing extraordinary challenges and conflicts, shining a light on the immigrant experience, and, with its simple, beautiful prose, revealing the emerging voice of one of our greatest authors. With an Introduction by Marcelle Clementsand an Afterword by Lan Samantha Chang

Willa Cather’s powerful story about a family of farmers—an instant American classic The first novel in Willa Cather’s Prairie Trilogy tells the story of the Bergsons, a family of immigrants eking out a hardscrabble life as farmers in Nebraska at the turn of the nineteenth century. Alexandra, the eldest child of Bergson patriarch John, inherits the family farm when her father dies. Left to raise her father’s three sons and somehow turn a struggling farm around, Alexandra is tasked with pulling her family up by its bootstraps. Unfortunately, her brothers aren’t made of the same strong pioneer stock as she is. When drought, depression, and other agricultural disasters hit, it’s up to Alexandra to pull the family through. Along the way, the neighbor boy, Carl Linstrum, catches her eye. But when families begin lighting out for greener pastures in the West, the Bergsons’ fortunes take a turn. Can the family survive the brutal Midwest hardships, or worse—the Bergson brothers’ frivolous nature? Will Alexandra, emotional lodestone and embodiment of the American can-do spirit, ever find happiness—or love? Cather’s novel shows readers the story of the American frontier. O Pioneers! is the 1st book in the Prairie Trilogy, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

In this classic novel, James Fenimore Cooper portrays life in a new settlement on New York's Lake Otsego in the closing years of the eighteenth century. He describes the year's cycle: the turkey shoot at Christmas, the tapping of maple trees, fishing for bass in the evening, the marshalling of the militia. But Cooper is also concerned with exploring the development of the cultural and philosophical underpinnings of the American experience. He writes of the conflicts within the settlement itself, focusing primarily on the contrast between the natural codes of the hunter and woodsman Natty Bumppo and his Indian friend John Mohegan and the more rigid structure of law needed by a more complex society. Quite possibly America's first best-seller (more than three thousand copies were sold within hours of publication), The Pioneers today evokes a vibrant and authentic picture of the American pioneering experience.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.