Thursday, April 26, 2012

Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West


Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West
by Dorothy Wickenden
Hardcover, 304 pages
Published June 21st 2011 by Scribner

New Yorker executive editor  Dorothy Wickenden delivers an absorbing account of her grandmother Dorthy Woodruf and friend Rosamund Underwood’s trek in 1916 to Colorado to teach school.

The two women were part of Albany New York society, well traveled and sophisticated, and looked upon the expedition as nothing short of adventure. And even by our standards today, it still was.

Their journey by train took them as far as the Continental Divide, then by wagon to Elkhead, CO. The two women divided the teaching assignments in the newly built schoolhouse, which boasted of a basement and served as the community gathering spot.

Author Wickenden provides letters of the women to friends and family. The letters are lengthy and full of optimism, and enthusiasm for the land and the people struggling to prosper on the new frontier.

This was an enjoyable book, centering on the day to day details of the women’ lives and their family back East.

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