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HistoryExtra podcast

Laura Ingalls Wilder: life of the week

Aug 31, 2026 · 47m

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On this episode

About this episode

Laura Ingalls Wilder’s 'Little House' books have captivated generations with tales of family, hardship and survival on the American frontier. But how closely did Wilder’s fiction reflect her real childhood – and what should we make of its more controversial portrayals? In this episode, Elinor Evans speaks to author and biographer Pamela Smith Hill about the tragedies that Wilder omitted from her stories, her complex collaboration with daughter Rose Wilder Lane, and the groundbreaking realism that helped to make her work a sensation. ----- GO BEYOND THE PODCAST To find out more about the real history in Little House on the Prairie, don't miss our explainer to the series, available at…