Lillian Schlissel is a professor emerita of English and American Studies at Brooklyn College–CUNY. She is the author of numerous books, including The Western Women's Reader (with Catherine Lavender) and Black Frontiers: A History of African American Heroes in the Old West. Byrd Gibbens is a professor of English at the University of New Mexico, Valencia campus, and the author of This Is a Strange Country: Letters of a Western Family 1880-1906.Elizabeth Hampsten is a professor of English at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, and the author of Settlers' Children: Growing Up on the Great Plains.

An immensely readable book that peers closely into the lives of ordinary American frontier families."—Booklist "The voices that emerge here eloquently tell [their] tale."—New Yorker "One of the enduring myths of the Westward movement is the happy ending: families that survived the arduous journey found a rewarding new life despite hardships. . . . Here is a story of appalling poverty, feelings of inferiority, lack of communication. These are sad, even tragic, tales about women and family life on the frontier."—Publishers Weekly