O Pioneers!
by Willa Cather
"The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or woman," Willa Cather writes in O Pioneers! The country is America; The woman is Alexandra Bergson, a highly independent young Swedish immigrant girl who inherited her father's farm in Nebraska. A model of emotional strength, courage and determination, Alexandra struggles long and arduous to turn her father's raw, wind-blown piece of meadow into a highly profitable business. A fascinating epic of love, murder, greed, failure and victory, O pioneers! vividly depicts the hardships of prairie life. Above all, he advocates the belief that hard work is the surest path to personal self-actualization. After being published in The New York Times, he was described as "American in the best sense of the word", oh pioneers! it celebrates the men and women who fought to build a nation that was both persuasive and controversial.
