As a little girl, I was constantly reading books like Little House on the Prairie and fantasized about being a homesteader. When I grew up, I began reading more realistic local history, and discovered that living in the middle of nowhere can be brutally hard on a person.
Here are some books from one of my favorite niche genres: macabre stories about isolated pioneers.
Lizzie Borden took an axe, Gave her mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done, gave her father 41.
Lizzie Borden
Did pitied spinster Elizabeth Borden really hack her parents to bits? See if you can solve the crime that’s stumped the public for over a century: read and watch all about Lizzie Borden.
Baby Doe Tabor
The coquettish and independent Elizabeth “Baby Doe” Tabor went from being one of 15 children living in Wisconsin to a wealthy silver magnate in frontier Colorado. She was found dead in a remote cabin after living alone for her last 35 years. The once rich “silver queen” led a colorful life — you can read about it in The Legend of Baby Doe: The Life and Times of the Silver Queen of the West.
Wisconsin Death Trip by Michael Lesy
I first saw this book at a friend’s house, and spent the next 6 hours reading it intently. Assembled by a reporter in the 1970s, it’s a collection of photos and newsclippings detailing the madness, diseases and crimes of many folks living in Wisconsin in the late 19th century. These photos and stories of forgotten people are often touching and morose at the same time.
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