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A Son of the Middle Border
A classic of American realism, A Son of the Middle Border (1917) is the true coming-of-age odyssey of a farm boy who—informed by the full brute force of a homesteaders’ life on the vast unbroken prairie—would become a preeminent American writer of the early twentieth century. Pulitzer Prize–winner Hamlin Garland’s captivating autobiography recounts his journey from a rural childhood to the study of literature and the sciences in Boston, his vital connections with such inspirations as William Dean Howell, and eventually his reclaimed sense of identity as a writer of the Midwest’s beautiful yet hard land. This definitive book placed Garland among such regionalist writers as Willa Cather, Sherwood Anderson, and Theodore Dreiser.
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1917
42 people are currently reading
415 people want to read
About the author
Hamlin Garland
210 books25 followersStories and novels of American writer Hannibal Hamlin Garland include the autobiographical
A Son of the Middle Border
and depict the hardships that Midwestern farmers endured.
People best know this American novelist, poet, essayist, and short story writer for his fiction, involving hard-working Midwestern farmers.
Hannibal Hamlin Garland was born on a farm near West Salem, Wisconsin, on September 14, 1860, the second of four children of Richard Garlin of Maine and Charlotte Isabelle McClintock. The boy was named after Hannibal Hamlin, then candidate for vice-president under Abraham Lincoln. He lived on various Midwestern farms throughout his young life, but settled in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1884 to pursue a career in writing. He read diligently in the public library there. His first success came in 1891 with Main-Traveled Roads, a collection of short stories inspired by his days on the farm. He serialized a biography of Ulysses S. Grant in McClure's Magazine before publishing it as a book in 1898. The same year, Garland traveled to the Yukon to witness the Klondike Gold Rush, which inspired The Trail of the Gold Seekers (1899). He lived on a farm between Osage, and St. Ansgar, Iowa for quite some time. Many of his writings are based on this era of his life.
A prolific writer, Garland continued to publish novels, short fiction, and essays. In 1917, he published his autobiography, A Son of the Middle Border. The book's success prompted a sequel, A Daughter of the Middle Border, for which Garland won the 1922 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. After two more volumes, Garland began a second series of memoirs based on his diary. Garland naturally became quite well known during his lifetime and had many friends in literary circles. He was made a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1918.
After moving to Hollywood, California, in 1929, he devoted his remaining years to investigating psychic phenomena, an enthusiasm he first undertook in 1891. In his final book, The Mystery of the Buried Crosses (1939), he tried to defend such phenomena and prove the legitimacy of psychic mediums.
A friend, Lee Shippey, columnist for the Los Angeles Times, recalled Garland's regular system of writing:
. . . he got up at half past five, brewed a pot of coffee and made toast on an electric gadget in his study and was at work by six. At nine o'clock he was through with work for the day. Then he breakfasted, read the morning paper and attended to his personal mail. . . . After luncheon he and Mrs. Garland would take a long drive . . . . Sometimes they would drop in on Will Rogers, Will Durant, Robert Benchley or even on me, for their range of friends was very wide. . . . After dinner they would go to a show if an exceptionally good one were in town, otherwise one of their daughters would read aloud.
Garland died at age 79, at his home in Hollywood on March 4, 1940. A memorial service was held three days later near his home in Glendale, California. His ashes were buried in Neshonoc Cemetery in West Salem, Wisconsin on March 14; his poem "The Cry of the Age" was read by Reverend John B. Fritz.
The Hamlin Garland House in West Salem is a historical site.
People best know this American novelist, poet, essayist, and short story writer for his fiction, involving hard-working Midwestern farmers.
Hannibal Hamlin Garland was born on a farm near West Salem, Wisconsin, on September 14, 1860, the second of four children of Richard Garlin of Maine and Charlotte Isabelle McClintock. The boy was named after Hannibal Hamlin, then candidate for vice-president under Abraham Lincoln. He lived on various Midwestern farms throughout his young life, but settled in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1884 to pursue a career in writing. He read diligently in the public library there. His first success came in 1891 with Main-Traveled Roads, a collection of short stories inspired by his days on the farm. He serialized a biography of Ulysses S. Grant in McClure's Magazine before publishing it as a book in 1898. The same year, Garland traveled to the Yukon to witness the Klondike Gold Rush, which inspired The Trail of the Gold Seekers (1899). He lived on a farm between Osage, and St. Ansgar, Iowa for quite some time. Many of his writings are based on this era of his life.
A prolific writer, Garland continued to publish novels, short fiction, and essays. In 1917, he published his autobiography, A Son of the Middle Border. The book's success prompted a sequel, A Daughter of the Middle Border, for which Garland won the 1922 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. After two more volumes, Garland began a second series of memoirs based on his diary. Garland naturally became quite well known during his lifetime and had many friends in literary circles. He was made a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1918.
After moving to Hollywood, California, in 1929, he devoted his remaining years to investigating psychic phenomena, an enthusiasm he first undertook in 1891. In his final book, The Mystery of the Buried Crosses (1939), he tried to defend such phenomena and prove the legitimacy of psychic mediums.
A friend, Lee Shippey, columnist for the Los Angeles Times, recalled Garland's regular system of writing:
. . . he got up at half past five, brewed a pot of coffee and made toast on an electric gadget in his study and was at work by six. At nine o'clock he was through with work for the day. Then he breakfasted, read the morning paper and attended to his personal mail. . . . After luncheon he and Mrs. Garland would take a long drive . . . . Sometimes they would drop in on Will Rogers, Will Durant, Robert Benchley or even on me, for their range of friends was very wide. . . . After dinner they would go to a show if an exceptionally good one were in town, otherwise one of their daughters would read aloud.
Garland died at age 79, at his home in Hollywood on March 4, 1940. A memorial service was held three days later near his home in Glendale, California. His ashes were buried in Neshonoc Cemetery in West Salem, Wisconsin on March 14; his poem "The Cry of the Age" was read by Reverend John B. Fritz.
The Hamlin Garland House in West Salem is a historical site.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
October 13, 2022
Hannibal Hamlin Garland (September 14, 1860 -- March 4, 1940) was born in West Salem, Wisconsin. He is best known for this autobiography and his short stories. Thank you, Sandy, for bringing the book to my attention.
The first half of the book appealed to me more than the second half. The book as a whole I enjoyed a lot, so four stars is my rating.
Why is it that the years of childhood in an autobiography are often those most favored by readers? Am I the only one who has thought about this? I think, memories of childhood lie deep within us. They evoke our emotions. Readers cherish holiday celebrations, songs and stories told to us as a child because they are tied to our family and what we hold dear. Both scary and pleasant remembrances lie deep in our heart. As we age, our thought processes gain precedence. These are equally important because they determine the person we become as an adult. However, it is here that individuals diverge. I think this is why books heavy on childhood memories are popular. We relate to them easily because they are tied to our emotions. In this story, there are marvelous descriptions of shared family experiences, Thanksgiving celebrations, memories from the first years of school, farm chores such as the threshing and stacking of grains, milking and more. Community members gather. Although some chores are lacking in our individual memory banks, we nevertheless relate to them because we have taken part in similar events. They focus on how people relate to each other. The author describes these wonderfully—the reader sees, hear, and feels the ambiance, and it is this we connect to. The threshing of grains, as it is described here in the book, is something I will not soon forget! This is so because Garland writes well.
Farmers lie on both sides of his family. Music, fiddling and songs are a central ingredient. Hard physical labor was a prerequisite for a farmer’s survival. It is a given. We learn of the families’ backgrounds. The pioneering lust, the search for what may be better over there around the bend and over the border, is a second trait important in the families.
“A stone that keeps rolling doesn’t grow moss.” This might be said to be the central theme of the book. There is always more to be tested and tried. For me, this lies in the spirit of the American soul. The theme interests me. Having lived myself in different countries, I see this as a particularly American trait. I can see this in how I was raised. This topic, prominent in the book, gives me food for thought. I am not 100% sure that a person having lived their entire life only in America will pay attention to this theme.
We follow Hamlin from when he was a young boy into his thirties. By the end he is an adult, and mature and has made for himself a career of his own choice. We watch how he has developed. He has not yet married though. It is this his elderly and ailing Mom is looking forward to at the book’s end. She yearns for a daughter-in-law and grandchildren. In passing, we have come to see how men and women have different needs. Death has hit the family and members have gone in widely varying directions.
We view the author’s life through his own eyes. We come to know both his strengths and weaknesses. His views of himself are, in my view, balanced and honest. Told by one less talented, one without the ability to express himself well, the book wouldn’t attract such a large group of readers. I recommend this book. Hamlin strings together his words beautifully. It is this that explains why the book has come to be considered a classic. Both the writing and the content are very good.
I would have liked to know what exactly attracted Hamlin to the authors he speaks of. He becomes a teacher, a writer, a poet and an orator. He has been attracted to books all his life! To be so is in his blood, muscles and bones. It is who he is.
In this book, we visit many different places in America, first after the Civil War and then later when the author and his younger brother change jobs. We see Wisconsin, Iowa and South Dakota, California, Chicago, Boston and New York City. This is a book about the pioneering spirit, about authors, about family and about becoming an independent adult. The prose is very good!
I have listened to the audio version of this book. It’s read by the talented narrator Grover Gardner. If audiobooks are your thing, you are sure to already be aware of Grover Gardner’s talent. He is no newcomer. He is one of the best in his field. He knows how to tell a story. In the telling the story becomes his. Don’t hesitate to pick up the audiobook.
Both the book itself and the narration I have given four stars.
***************************
*A Son of the Middle Border 4 stars
*The Spirit of Sweetwater 3 stars
*The Eagle's Heart TBR
The first half of the book appealed to me more than the second half. The book as a whole I enjoyed a lot, so four stars is my rating.
Why is it that the years of childhood in an autobiography are often those most favored by readers? Am I the only one who has thought about this? I think, memories of childhood lie deep within us. They evoke our emotions. Readers cherish holiday celebrations, songs and stories told to us as a child because they are tied to our family and what we hold dear. Both scary and pleasant remembrances lie deep in our heart. As we age, our thought processes gain precedence. These are equally important because they determine the person we become as an adult. However, it is here that individuals diverge. I think this is why books heavy on childhood memories are popular. We relate to them easily because they are tied to our emotions. In this story, there are marvelous descriptions of shared family experiences, Thanksgiving celebrations, memories from the first years of school, farm chores such as the threshing and stacking of grains, milking and more. Community members gather. Although some chores are lacking in our individual memory banks, we nevertheless relate to them because we have taken part in similar events. They focus on how people relate to each other. The author describes these wonderfully—the reader sees, hear, and feels the ambiance, and it is this we connect to. The threshing of grains, as it is described here in the book, is something I will not soon forget! This is so because Garland writes well.
Farmers lie on both sides of his family. Music, fiddling and songs are a central ingredient. Hard physical labor was a prerequisite for a farmer’s survival. It is a given. We learn of the families’ backgrounds. The pioneering lust, the search for what may be better over there around the bend and over the border, is a second trait important in the families.
“A stone that keeps rolling doesn’t grow moss.” This might be said to be the central theme of the book. There is always more to be tested and tried. For me, this lies in the spirit of the American soul. The theme interests me. Having lived myself in different countries, I see this as a particularly American trait. I can see this in how I was raised. This topic, prominent in the book, gives me food for thought. I am not 100% sure that a person having lived their entire life only in America will pay attention to this theme.
We follow Hamlin from when he was a young boy into his thirties. By the end he is an adult, and mature and has made for himself a career of his own choice. We watch how he has developed. He has not yet married though. It is this his elderly and ailing Mom is looking forward to at the book’s end. She yearns for a daughter-in-law and grandchildren. In passing, we have come to see how men and women have different needs. Death has hit the family and members have gone in widely varying directions.
We view the author’s life through his own eyes. We come to know both his strengths and weaknesses. His views of himself are, in my view, balanced and honest. Told by one less talented, one without the ability to express himself well, the book wouldn’t attract such a large group of readers. I recommend this book. Hamlin strings together his words beautifully. It is this that explains why the book has come to be considered a classic. Both the writing and the content are very good.
I would have liked to know what exactly attracted Hamlin to the authors he speaks of. He becomes a teacher, a writer, a poet and an orator. He has been attracted to books all his life! To be so is in his blood, muscles and bones. It is who he is.
In this book, we visit many different places in America, first after the Civil War and then later when the author and his younger brother change jobs. We see Wisconsin, Iowa and South Dakota, California, Chicago, Boston and New York City. This is a book about the pioneering spirit, about authors, about family and about becoming an independent adult. The prose is very good!
I have listened to the audio version of this book. It’s read by the talented narrator Grover Gardner. If audiobooks are your thing, you are sure to already be aware of Grover Gardner’s talent. He is no newcomer. He is one of the best in his field. He knows how to tell a story. In the telling the story becomes his. Don’t hesitate to pick up the audiobook.
Both the book itself and the narration I have given four stars.
***************************
*A Son of the Middle Border 4 stars
*The Spirit of Sweetwater 3 stars
*The Eagle's Heart TBR
June 22, 2022
Review originally published February 2019
I'd like to recommend to you a book that I prize. Of course, it is a title readily available through La Crosse County Library, but I actually purchased a copy of my own at the author's home in West Salem. A Son of the Middle Border by Hamlin Garland is an autobiography that is 100 years old.
Perhaps you would be persuaded to read it if you knew that the author is a Pulitzer Prize winner. Maybe I could tantalize you by describing it as a male version of the popular Little House books. Would it entice you if I told you the story begins in Greens Coulee, Onalaska?
Hamlin Garland was born in 1860 near West Salem. He remembers Greens Coulee as a place of wooded hills with a marsh down the middle. It was a valley teeming with “sinister” creatures such as bears, wolves, wild cats, and rattlesnakes. Onalaska was a boomtown, and he recounts that all boys aspired to be river men.
I found his descriptions of farm life, threshing, meals, and visits from relatives intriguing. Indeed, much can be learned about early pioneer life in our region from Hamlin Garland.
As a boy, the author longed to accompany his father to the grain market in La Crosse. In fact, he never saw La Crosse until he was 8 years old as the family crossed through it on their move to Minnesota. In our day and age, it’s hard to imagine that a trip to La Crosse was so rare for someone who lived in Onalaska. This is one of many insights gained from this lovely book.
The recollections of farm and prairie life are filled with descriptions of endless toil, with a keen eye for the physical demands on the prairie wife. The chores of a young child amaze our modern sensibilities. Could a 9 year-old boy really fire a double-barrel shotgun as he stands guard over newly sown crops? There is also an amazing story of Garland as a young child being sent to fetch the family doctor on horseback during horrible weather conditions. I have read it aloud on several occasions and listeners have always found it compelling.
Garland’s father never liked the steep ridges of Greens Coulee and the difficulty of farming there. Like many men of that era, he longed to go west towards the Minnesota prairies he had once seen. The family eventually settles on 300 acres of land in Iowa. The chore demands on the growing Garland boy increased.
Yet, his recollections never cease to include beautiful descriptions of wildlife and the landscape. More moves are in the family’s future and the “middle border” moves farther from the settled lands.
As a young man, Garland embarks upon travel, schooling, and a successful writing career, all the while showing that he is never afraid of manual labor. His success enables him to establish a Garland homestead in West Salem. There is a bit of a cliff-hanger at the end that hopefully will lead to a desire to read the sequel, A Daughter of the Middle Border, the Pulitzer Prize winner.
Every year in September, Garland Days are celebrated in West Salem. If you go, you might want to visit our beautiful West Salem library location and check out A Son of the Middle Border. La Crosse County Library also has convenient locations in Holmen, Bangor, Onalaska, and the town of Campbell, where staff are happy to assist you in finding books and other library items for your enjoyment.
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
I'd like to recommend to you a book that I prize. Of course, it is a title readily available through La Crosse County Library, but I actually purchased a copy of my own at the author's home in West Salem. A Son of the Middle Border by Hamlin Garland is an autobiography that is 100 years old.
Perhaps you would be persuaded to read it if you knew that the author is a Pulitzer Prize winner. Maybe I could tantalize you by describing it as a male version of the popular Little House books. Would it entice you if I told you the story begins in Greens Coulee, Onalaska?
Hamlin Garland was born in 1860 near West Salem. He remembers Greens Coulee as a place of wooded hills with a marsh down the middle. It was a valley teeming with “sinister” creatures such as bears, wolves, wild cats, and rattlesnakes. Onalaska was a boomtown, and he recounts that all boys aspired to be river men.
I found his descriptions of farm life, threshing, meals, and visits from relatives intriguing. Indeed, much can be learned about early pioneer life in our region from Hamlin Garland.
As a boy, the author longed to accompany his father to the grain market in La Crosse. In fact, he never saw La Crosse until he was 8 years old as the family crossed through it on their move to Minnesota. In our day and age, it’s hard to imagine that a trip to La Crosse was so rare for someone who lived in Onalaska. This is one of many insights gained from this lovely book.
The recollections of farm and prairie life are filled with descriptions of endless toil, with a keen eye for the physical demands on the prairie wife. The chores of a young child amaze our modern sensibilities. Could a 9 year-old boy really fire a double-barrel shotgun as he stands guard over newly sown crops? There is also an amazing story of Garland as a young child being sent to fetch the family doctor on horseback during horrible weather conditions. I have read it aloud on several occasions and listeners have always found it compelling.
Garland’s father never liked the steep ridges of Greens Coulee and the difficulty of farming there. Like many men of that era, he longed to go west towards the Minnesota prairies he had once seen. The family eventually settles on 300 acres of land in Iowa. The chore demands on the growing Garland boy increased.
Yet, his recollections never cease to include beautiful descriptions of wildlife and the landscape. More moves are in the family’s future and the “middle border” moves farther from the settled lands.
As a young man, Garland embarks upon travel, schooling, and a successful writing career, all the while showing that he is never afraid of manual labor. His success enables him to establish a Garland homestead in West Salem. There is a bit of a cliff-hanger at the end that hopefully will lead to a desire to read the sequel, A Daughter of the Middle Border, the Pulitzer Prize winner.
Every year in September, Garland Days are celebrated in West Salem. If you go, you might want to visit our beautiful West Salem library location and check out A Son of the Middle Border. La Crosse County Library also has convenient locations in Holmen, Bangor, Onalaska, and the town of Campbell, where staff are happy to assist you in finding books and other library items for your enjoyment.
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
June 19, 2014
Hamlin Garland’s realistic portrayal of homesteading on the frontier—the beauty as well as the ugliness—collided with two different streams of thought about rural America at the turn of the last century. One was a pastoral, bucolic, and picturesque vision of simple, wholesome living far from the corruptive influence of the city. Another was the go-west boosterism that coaxed settlers from the East and abroad to snap up free land and get rich as agricultural producers. Garland saw in his own family’s example the empty promise at the heart of both visions...
More at my blog:
http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.co...
More at my blog:
http://buddiesinthesaddle.blogspot.co...
July 3, 2021
A sort of coming-of-age memoir, from the 19th century. The son of a civil war vet in the Midwest, Garland hated farming and the frontier, and was delighted to (after some adjustment) find a living in the city. Not much in the way of countryside paeans from him, though there was a lot of Georgism -- Garland was very much a Henry George fanboy.
A lot of interesting period details appear amidst the florid prose, but I found the author intensely dislikable, and I'm not sure I can put a finger on why. I don't think my inclinations are too agrarian to appreciate him -- Old Jules is one of my favorite books, and it's certainly not one favorable towards frontier life.
I might read another of Garland's books, but I wouldn't want to sit near him at a party.
A lot of interesting period details appear amidst the florid prose, but I found the author intensely dislikable, and I'm not sure I can put a finger on why. I don't think my inclinations are too agrarian to appreciate him -- Old Jules is one of my favorite books, and it's certainly not one favorable towards frontier life.
I might read another of Garland's books, but I wouldn't want to sit near him at a party.
November 21, 2020
Found this on accident: didn't know it was written in the lofty florid prose of the turn of the last century. But it was still so very readable. And what's more (all this before I researched Garland)...it said "farm work is a horrible way to live if you can get anything better." That honestly was not popular back then. I know, I real ALOT of books from the Victorian-1920s looking for truth and it's so hard to find.
Garland isn't as cozy or funny as Twain, he's plenty snobby, but I like him. I like him a lot. Turns out he was one of the first American writers to say out loud "being a pioneer is awful and most people fail. Women work themselves to an early grave with little joy in their lives and no one ever thanks them. Being a farmer is not freedom unless you come from a place where you weren't even allowed to have your own land. For God's sake (Whom he quietly admitted he didn't fully believe in) if you can make a living using your brain and not your back, even if it's writing silly little stories like mine, DO IT!" That was an unpopular sentiment in midst of conquering the wild west. And he wrote of his own family, their deaths and their dreams gone to nothing. An uncle who won't ever play the fiddle again because he has no more hopes or joys to play for...melodramatic and was the style at the time but so HONEST underneath it, with compassionate pity for the people who still chose that way of life.
This makes me want to read everything he wrote. All praise for gentle and sympathetic and UNPOPULAR honesty.
Garland isn't as cozy or funny as Twain, he's plenty snobby, but I like him. I like him a lot. Turns out he was one of the first American writers to say out loud "being a pioneer is awful and most people fail. Women work themselves to an early grave with little joy in their lives and no one ever thanks them. Being a farmer is not freedom unless you come from a place where you weren't even allowed to have your own land. For God's sake (Whom he quietly admitted he didn't fully believe in) if you can make a living using your brain and not your back, even if it's writing silly little stories like mine, DO IT!" That was an unpopular sentiment in midst of conquering the wild west. And he wrote of his own family, their deaths and their dreams gone to nothing. An uncle who won't ever play the fiddle again because he has no more hopes or joys to play for...melodramatic and was the style at the time but so HONEST underneath it, with compassionate pity for the people who still chose that way of life.
This makes me want to read everything he wrote. All praise for gentle and sympathetic and UNPOPULAR honesty.
March 30, 2021
Hamlin Garland does a remarkable job of capturing the homesteading experience on the Dakota plains. He lived it.
May 1, 2023
This book was so interesting to me, as I have ancestors who lived in these very places/times. It gave a realistic portrayal of the hardships and joys these settlers faced.
September 24, 2023
Midwest author Hamlin Garland’s 1917 autobiography is his coming-of-age story. It starts with his young childhood in West Salem Wisconsin and follows him as his family moves to his school years in Iowa and finally to the Dakotas as his father���s pioneering spirit has him compulsively following the westward moving Middle Border. The "Middle Border" is the line between where the homesteaders are settling the land and taming animals and where the frontiersman are roaming, hunting and skinning the more untamable animals.
The first 2/3 of the book is an engaging portrait of a fairly normal young Midwest farm boy working on the farm, going to school and just reading what he can, all while the family moves in steps westward. Because it is a memoir, Garland can describe the events of life on the middle border frontier with non-journalistic flourish which fits his descriptive style. His depiction of a day spent threshing and a day spent haying were both descriptively detailed and emotively expressive; Garland lets his tweenaged inner self wax poetic on the subjects that still strongly linger in his memory. I feel I have a better understanding that I ever have had of what life was like for a young man working on his family farm, an understanding that was likely still somewhat applicable to such a life up until World War I or II.
This part of the book carries Garland's story forward until his early 20s when he moves to Boston and eventually New York. Then the last 1/3 of the book follows Garland as he engages in rigorous self-education, then begins writing and publishing critiques and essays and then finally shifts to fiction as he becomes part of the East coast literary set. Garland seeks to be the realism voice of rural western America
Interspersed with the story of his budding writing career is tales of his travels from the east to Iowa, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, California and other locales to look for regional details for his writing while also maintaining family ties and seeking a better life for his parents.
I did like most of this last part of the book. Most interesting to me was his bonding with fellow-struggling-young-writer Stephen Crane and the guidance he received from the master of American realism at that time, Dean William Howells. It is easy to forget how esteemed Howells was by other authors at that time
My only real problem was with the character of Garland himself. In his efforts to become a realistic writer exposing frontier life as the struggle he considered it, Garland became, to me, overly self-righteous and almost insufferable. The crusading realist Garland seemed to forget completely about the young farming Garland waxing poetic about some of his youthful farming experiences.
For instance, the story of his writing growth carries us to the publishing of his first success, his short story collection Main-Travelled Roads. In his dedication of the book to his parents, Garland refers to his parents’ heroism but also that their “half-century of pilgrimage on the main travelled road of life brought them only pain and weariness.”
This is a back-handed compliment at his parents’ expense in order to serve Garland’s role as the crusading rural realist. I’m sure his father would not have thought that he achieved “only pain and weariness,” but also gained some, even if secondary, degree of self-gratification and self-respect.
But I can deal with the self-important Garland as book’s author Garland does say he is just trying to accurately portray himself at each age of his development. If that is true, then I give Garland credit for his depiction of his youthful crusader self.
Any concerns I had with Garland’s personality did not affect my opinion of the book as a whole. The storytelling here was well-organized, revelatory and deserving of a 4-star rating.
The first 2/3 of the book is an engaging portrait of a fairly normal young Midwest farm boy working on the farm, going to school and just reading what he can, all while the family moves in steps westward. Because it is a memoir, Garland can describe the events of life on the middle border frontier with non-journalistic flourish which fits his descriptive style. His depiction of a day spent threshing and a day spent haying were both descriptively detailed and emotively expressive; Garland lets his tweenaged inner self wax poetic on the subjects that still strongly linger in his memory. I feel I have a better understanding that I ever have had of what life was like for a young man working on his family farm, an understanding that was likely still somewhat applicable to such a life up until World War I or II.
This part of the book carries Garland's story forward until his early 20s when he moves to Boston and eventually New York. Then the last 1/3 of the book follows Garland as he engages in rigorous self-education, then begins writing and publishing critiques and essays and then finally shifts to fiction as he becomes part of the East coast literary set. Garland seeks to be the realism voice of rural western America
Interspersed with the story of his budding writing career is tales of his travels from the east to Iowa, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, California and other locales to look for regional details for his writing while also maintaining family ties and seeking a better life for his parents.
I did like most of this last part of the book. Most interesting to me was his bonding with fellow-struggling-young-writer Stephen Crane and the guidance he received from the master of American realism at that time, Dean William Howells. It is easy to forget how esteemed Howells was by other authors at that time
My only real problem was with the character of Garland himself. In his efforts to become a realistic writer exposing frontier life as the struggle he considered it, Garland became, to me, overly self-righteous and almost insufferable. The crusading realist Garland seemed to forget completely about the young farming Garland waxing poetic about some of his youthful farming experiences.
For instance, the story of his writing growth carries us to the publishing of his first success, his short story collection Main-Travelled Roads. In his dedication of the book to his parents, Garland refers to his parents’ heroism but also that their “half-century of pilgrimage on the main travelled road of life brought them only pain and weariness.”
This is a back-handed compliment at his parents’ expense in order to serve Garland’s role as the crusading rural realist. I’m sure his father would not have thought that he achieved “only pain and weariness,” but also gained some, even if secondary, degree of self-gratification and self-respect.
But I can deal with the self-important Garland as book’s author Garland does say he is just trying to accurately portray himself at each age of his development. If that is true, then I give Garland credit for his depiction of his youthful crusader self.
Any concerns I had with Garland’s personality did not affect my opinion of the book as a whole. The storytelling here was well-organized, revelatory and deserving of a 4-star rating.
October 18, 2013
This book took me all over the place emotionally. I loved it at the beginning (as one reviewer said - just like a male version of "Little House on the Prairie"), then I began to dislike Hamlin intensely. He is so focused on his literary life that he considers the locals to be irritating and uninteresting - I found this unspeakably self-centered and arrogant. However, his dedication in spite of personal deprivation was admirable - he fought for every inch of his "success", and it did not come easy.
At the beginning, with all the talk of America and the bounty of land, I couldn't help thinking of the Native Americans and their perspective on this same period of history. Very little was mentioned about them, and the move into the Dakota Territories saddened me, knowing the atrocities this move had entailed for the Indian people there. I began to like Hamlin a little better when he himself began to see the constant acquisition of land and the movement West as a failure rather than a glory.
Another redeeming quality was his life-long love and compassion for his mother. A pioneer woman's life was brutal, and his mother worked herself into the ground. Her situation tortured Hamlin, and he pleaded with his father many times to stop his constant move Westward for her sake. He did his best to save her from more struggle, and this seemed to me to be the eventual catalyst to his literary success.
I can't say I took to Mr. Garland much, but I was certainly engaged in his story. Life is complicated. People grow and change. We aren't what we were 20 years ago, and some of that's a mercy. I appreciated Hamlin's sense of the futility of the movement West. He really did try to tell the truth rather than idealize, and that impressed me and obviously influenced his generation.
At the beginning, with all the talk of America and the bounty of land, I couldn't help thinking of the Native Americans and their perspective on this same period of history. Very little was mentioned about them, and the move into the Dakota Territories saddened me, knowing the atrocities this move had entailed for the Indian people there. I began to like Hamlin a little better when he himself began to see the constant acquisition of land and the movement West as a failure rather than a glory.
Another redeeming quality was his life-long love and compassion for his mother. A pioneer woman's life was brutal, and his mother worked herself into the ground. Her situation tortured Hamlin, and he pleaded with his father many times to stop his constant move Westward for her sake. He did his best to save her from more struggle, and this seemed to me to be the eventual catalyst to his literary success.
I can't say I took to Mr. Garland much, but I was certainly engaged in his story. Life is complicated. People grow and change. We aren't what we were 20 years ago, and some of that's a mercy. I appreciated Hamlin's sense of the futility of the movement West. He really did try to tell the truth rather than idealize, and that impressed me and obviously influenced his generation.
January 12, 2012
Here's a male version of Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" experiences. Lke Wilder, Garland starts in Wisconsin where he was born and moves with his pioneer minded father and family several times, ending up in a Dakota (just like Laura). I'm remembering Cap Garland of Little House fame; are they related? I'm happy that Hamlin Garland sees how his personal story fits into the larger framework of the nation, and he helps me understand my ancestors who moved through "the middle border" in their way but without leaving emotional details. This term "middle border" is new to me--it's a movable border and refers to the way the nation's border was once in mid-America and it expanded through homestead fever. I'm especially fond of the scenes of unplowed prairie: ..."the peep of the prairie chick and the wailing call of plover on flowery green slopes...it was a wide world with a big, big sky which gave alluring hint of the still more glorious unknown wilderness beyond." (p. 107)
Sensitivity to how overworked pioneer women were, careful to balance beauty with truth and justice, and ability to listen to the land, Garland has opened the door to consider anew the years he covers in this book (1860-1891). Thank you, Brother Harvey, for introducing me to this author!
Sensitivity to how overworked pioneer women were, careful to balance beauty with truth and justice, and ability to listen to the land, Garland has opened the door to consider anew the years he covers in this book (1860-1891). Thank you, Brother Harvey, for introducing me to this author!
August 29, 2020
This memoir started when Hamlin was about 4 years old, with an unknown soldier of the Civil War dropping into his life - this was his father, whom he had no recollection of. These memories take place in WI with his family and extended family living close by. As the frontier opens Westward, their family moves first to MN, IA, and then to SD.
Hamlin allows us a first-hand view of what it was like to pioneer as new land opened; Hamlin began plowing at age 10 which made education almost impossible for him. Very interesting to see how he commenced his education and became the author of 40 books. The focus of his many books was to tell the "real" life of a pioneer, not just the glorified Western stories. His experiences breaking new land made his writings rich and unprecedented.
Hamlin allows us a first-hand view of what it was like to pioneer as new land opened; Hamlin began plowing at age 10 which made education almost impossible for him. Very interesting to see how he commenced his education and became the author of 40 books. The focus of his many books was to tell the "real" life of a pioneer, not just the glorified Western stories. His experiences breaking new land made his writings rich and unprecedented.
April 22, 2018
About 2/3 of the way through, this book really started dragging. It was worth ploughing through that though, because the last few chapters were really interesting. I'm not going to spoil it. Read the book!
March 22, 2019
I had never heard of this author before. I picked this book because I heard it was like a version of Little House on the Prairie from a male perspective. He definitely does not romanticize pioneering or farming. I might try to read some of his other works.
October 6, 2019
Fantastic book, and a surprise because I had not heard of it before. About the coming of age on the frontier farms of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa.
October 25, 2012
This book, published in 1917, and about the author's life through the late 19th C, takes awhile to grow into. But once he moves to Boston and starts railing against the poverty and harsh lives of the farmers back in Dakota (especially the women), it takes on some interest. His short piece about visiting an impoverished Walt Whitman is worth looking for. This from an era when largely self-educated people could be called "Professor" even though they had little formal education, and colleges were more like high schools. He writes about the current social philosophy of the time, and knew many of the authors (Howells, Crane, Freeman, and many long forgotten).
Perhaps of more interest as a historical document as he relates his father's return from the Civil War to WI, and their constant movement West through the Dakotas for year upon year afterwards. No, these pioneers did not put down roots!
A great indictment of the American Myth of the farmer.
Perhaps of more interest as a historical document as he relates his father's return from the Civil War to WI, and their constant movement West through the Dakotas for year upon year afterwards. No, these pioneers did not put down roots!
A great indictment of the American Myth of the farmer.
September 18, 2009
I had been researching the settlement of the Minnesota Territory and found this first hand account very helpful as well as well written. We think sadly of the destruction of the prairie, but Garland had this to say: "The last quarter section lay upturned, black to the sun and the garden that had bloomed and fruited for millions of years, waiting for man, lay torn and ravaged. The tender plants, the sweet flowers, the fragrant fruit, the busy insects, all the swarming lives destroyed. It was sad and yet it was not all loss, even to my thinking." There are touches that make settlement in this new land very real to me, "It was home by reason of my mother's brave and cheery presence, and the prattle of Jessie's clear voice filled it with music. Dear child - with her it was always spring."
February 16, 2014
In preparation of reading the Pulitzer winning second part for my blog (http://pulitzer-challenge.blogspot.de), I started with that first part of Garland's autobiography. It first takes the reader on a journey to the West. The insights of the farmer's life on the border shows the author's talent to write about nature and the hardships of men in an inspirating way. In the seconde half of the book we learn how Garland started out as a writer and how his success slowly but steadily evolved. The book ends with the consolidation of the family in the east.
I was captured with the story and mostly the description of the plains in an instand. And even if it took me quite a while to read the book, it never quite let go of me.
I was captured with the story and mostly the description of the plains in an instand. And even if it took me quite a while to read the book, it never quite let go of me.
January 6, 2022
I did notice that it was taking me a really long time to get through this book. It was a very detailed story and that might not be to everyone's taste. It's amazing to me that looking back over many years Garland could recall so many details of his early life. It may have been slow going but I did enjoy the reading at every stage as Garland's style is very clear and the descriptions interesting.
The major points of the book are clear. Life on the farm is difficult, especially for the women. His father was never satisfied with what he had and always wanted to push farther west. That's hard to understand considering how difficult was every new beginning.
The book is a great lesson in the history of the time. I specifically refer to the enthusiasm over the philosophy of the economic theorist and agitator Henry George. His theory has been totally discredited but it sounded like a good idea at the time. What remains significant is that many Americans were very unhappy about the direction America was taking at the time. Today, although innovations have made life less difficult, the rich dominate our society more than ever. Too bad that no theorist then figured out how to prevent severe economic inequality.
What most impressed me is how hard this man knew how to work. He must have learned it on the farm. The people at that time, in that place, knew what it was to suffer painful drudgery. He suffered behind the plow all day and eventually got used to it and was ready to do it again because it meant survival for his family. This was by no means unusual at the time. Farmers and factory workers all had to survive conditions that we would not contemplate enduring. Now, here is the main point of the book for me. Garland carried over his work ethic over to his learning. He had the barest of educations. Yet he read at every opportunity. He transcribed passages from his favorite authors. He memorized and he declaimed even while at work. Then he took years to practice his writing. It didn't come from any more talent than anyone else. It was hours of work while suffering the pains of poverty. It seems to me that neither do we have ten year olds behind the plow nor students who devote all their energies to their studies. Of course I know that the best high school students will put in a great deal of time but they do this knowing that this will pave their way to good colleges and more than likely decent jobs. Garland had no guarantees whatsoever. He never did get into a fine university and just had to keep working and working until his writing was fit to print.
I admire Garland's accomplishments and am glad I learned about him and the times and places which formed him.
The major points of the book are clear. Life on the farm is difficult, especially for the women. His father was never satisfied with what he had and always wanted to push farther west. That's hard to understand considering how difficult was every new beginning.
The book is a great lesson in the history of the time. I specifically refer to the enthusiasm over the philosophy of the economic theorist and agitator Henry George. His theory has been totally discredited but it sounded like a good idea at the time. What remains significant is that many Americans were very unhappy about the direction America was taking at the time. Today, although innovations have made life less difficult, the rich dominate our society more than ever. Too bad that no theorist then figured out how to prevent severe economic inequality.
What most impressed me is how hard this man knew how to work. He must have learned it on the farm. The people at that time, in that place, knew what it was to suffer painful drudgery. He suffered behind the plow all day and eventually got used to it and was ready to do it again because it meant survival for his family. This was by no means unusual at the time. Farmers and factory workers all had to survive conditions that we would not contemplate enduring. Now, here is the main point of the book for me. Garland carried over his work ethic over to his learning. He had the barest of educations. Yet he read at every opportunity. He transcribed passages from his favorite authors. He memorized and he declaimed even while at work. Then he took years to practice his writing. It didn't come from any more talent than anyone else. It was hours of work while suffering the pains of poverty. It seems to me that neither do we have ten year olds behind the plow nor students who devote all their energies to their studies. Of course I know that the best high school students will put in a great deal of time but they do this knowing that this will pave their way to good colleges and more than likely decent jobs. Garland had no guarantees whatsoever. He never did get into a fine university and just had to keep working and working until his writing was fit to print.
I admire Garland's accomplishments and am glad I learned about him and the times and places which formed him.
June 25, 2018
A memoir of the author’s childhood and young adulthood, published in 1917. Hamlin Garland’s father, Richard, had the wanderlust pioneer leanings of many men of the time, taking the family from Wisconsin, where Garland was born in 1860, to various parts of Iowa, eventually homesteading in South Dakota. While Garland wrote eloquently about the beauty of farming, he keenly recognized the negatives as well. He knew at an early age that he did not want to be a farmer and struck out on his own to “see the world” – or at least the country. He worked in random temporary jobs, barely escaping starvation at times. He eventually made a place for himself within the literary society of Boston, teaching and giving public lectures, later writing and publishing essays.
Garland showed perception in areas that you don’t often see in writing from men in this era. He captured me early on, when describing his overreaction to taunting from a classmate: “It is often said, ’How little is required to give a child joy,’ but men – and women, too – sometimes forget how little it takes to give a child pain.”
Garland remarks several times that women simply had to go along with whatever the husband wanted to do, and that the frequent upheaval of their family home was very hard on his mother, Belle. When his aging parents experienced failed crops of wheat (and failing health) for many consecutive years in South Dakota, Richard’s proposed solution was to move farther west. At this point Hamlin put his foot down about the burden on his mother, and concocted a plan for their future.
The book moves slowly, written when in a time when readers probably had better attention spans than I do, but it’s so full of history and heart that I found it really worthwhile. Garland’s struggles with pursuing the life he wanted for himself v. his love for and desire to help his parents always rang through.
In 1922, Garland won a Pulitzer Prize for the sequel to this book, A Daughter of the Middle Border, which continues his life story after he moves to Chicago – the “daughter” referred to in the title is Zulime Taft, who became his wife.
Garland showed perception in areas that you don’t often see in writing from men in this era. He captured me early on, when describing his overreaction to taunting from a classmate: “It is often said, ’How little is required to give a child joy,’ but men – and women, too – sometimes forget how little it takes to give a child pain.”
Garland remarks several times that women simply had to go along with whatever the husband wanted to do, and that the frequent upheaval of their family home was very hard on his mother, Belle. When his aging parents experienced failed crops of wheat (and failing health) for many consecutive years in South Dakota, Richard’s proposed solution was to move farther west. At this point Hamlin put his foot down about the burden on his mother, and concocted a plan for their future.
The book moves slowly, written when in a time when readers probably had better attention spans than I do, but it’s so full of history and heart that I found it really worthwhile. Garland’s struggles with pursuing the life he wanted for himself v. his love for and desire to help his parents always rang through.
In 1922, Garland won a Pulitzer Prize for the sequel to this book, A Daughter of the Middle Border, which continues his life story after he moves to Chicago – the “daughter” referred to in the title is Zulime Taft, who became his wife.
February 10, 2018
I listened to this book and I had to start it on a few different occasions to get invested in it enough to finish, but I'm glad I did. As a memoir of the writer Hamlin Garland spanning the years just after the American Civil War until about the turn of the 20th century, and recounting the pioneering of the Garland family as they moved steadily westward with waves of emigrant homesteaders settling the plains, this book falls a little outside my usual areas of interest. I better enjoy reading about the settlement of the American Southwest in this time period, but I had come across a few references to Garland in those books, so I thought this would be an interesting supplement to that line of study. While this book didn't exactly shed any light on that topic, it was still interesting to read about the lives of the plains settlers, especially just following the Civil War, when Garland was still a child. It was also interesting to read about Garland's fascination with literature during a span of time that begins as foreign from but concludes as recognizable to our own. The concluding chapters of the book reminded me of the chapters in Steinbeck's Travels With Charley, in which Steinbeck returns to Monterrey and reminisces on the people he once knew there who were then no longer living. All in all A Son of the Middle Border was a bit slow, but for me the time spent listening was worth the investment.
January 16, 2022
Garland's loose autobiography is somewhat divided into two parts. His childhood, which I thought too idyllic - modest lip service to the hardship he perceived his mother was under living on the rude frontier. Part One is an excellent portrait of his father as part of the generation of sodbusters that opened up the west to realize the American dream. Garland's herculean farm responsibilities as a day laborer, machine operator, and supervisor of hired day labor at an extremely young age, while described matter-of-factly, were critical to the farm's survival.
At this point, had the book ended, I would have rated it three stars.
I preferred the second part of the book. Garland realizes that there was a world of haves and have nots. His writing shifted to populism, focusing on the American mid-west inhabitants. He no longer saw his life on the farm through rose-colored glasses. He saw his parents as beaten down, almost victimized - this was the late 1800's with low farm prices and the beginnings of a noticeable divide between rich and poor.
Hamlin Garland earned a Pulitzer Prize for this novel.
At this point, had the book ended, I would have rated it three stars.
I preferred the second part of the book. Garland realizes that there was a world of haves and have nots. His writing shifted to populism, focusing on the American mid-west inhabitants. He no longer saw his life on the farm through rose-colored glasses. He saw his parents as beaten down, almost victimized - this was the late 1800's with low farm prices and the beginnings of a noticeable divide between rich and poor.
Hamlin Garland earned a Pulitzer Prize for this novel.
January 3, 2025
I picked up on this book because I'm from SD and am very familiar with Laura Ingalls Wilder. A branch of the Garland family lived in De Smet, SD, when the Ingalls did and are mentioned in a couple of the books. Hamlin Garland's family lived in Burr Oak, IA, as did the Ingalls family at one time. Garland was noted around the turn of the century for his depiction of homesteading and "real" Western pioneer life. Although Wilder's books are admittedly fictionalized to some extent, Garland did not depict "real" pioneer life but it may have appeared so to his readers of that time who were used to florid, overly positive accounts. He spent most of his time on his own exploits; the only other characters to really come through were his parents.
He did do one thing that was very unusual for his time. He recognized the plight of women (his mother in particular) consigned to an overwhelming burden of housework and childcare in an unfriendly land with weather extremes and hardships, not to mention a husband always in search of new, sure-to-be-prosperous land. I salute him for that!
He did do one thing that was very unusual for his time. He recognized the plight of women (his mother in particular) consigned to an overwhelming burden of housework and childcare in an unfriendly land with weather extremes and hardships, not to mention a husband always in search of new, sure-to-be-prosperous land. I salute him for that!
February 9, 2025
Interesting memoir, with a much-different feeling American west in the late 1800s than, say, Laura Ingalls Wilder. Sad to read that, even in those first settlers, there was an awareness of ruining the land they were settling. Interesting to read about the movement among those farmers and settlers, close to the turn of the century, to get the honest truth of their lives out there, even as the government was continuing to make things sound rosy and wonderful and encouraging. Interesting what a small literary world existed at that time, as the author made his way to Boston and eventually New York and Chicago; his ability to speak with heavy hitters of the time (names that mean nothing to me now), as well as Walt Whitman; lending money to Stephen Crane so he could rescue the second half of Red Badge of Courage from a typist....interesting, but most interesting, I think, to avid historians - which I am not.
May 3, 2018
I truly enjoyed "A Son of the Middle Border" by Hamlin Garland. It is a bright memoir of his upbringing from his childhood in Wisconson and Iowa, and his coming of age in South Dakota. It sheds light on the struggles of the small farmers who "went west" in search of better soil, better crops and a better life, only to find hardship and disappointment. Mr. Garland escapes that life of westward urge, but in a great way the west remains in him and shapes his worldview. He becomes a writer with his emphasis on the west, and always his struggling parents color his life. This is an excellent book for anyone interested in learning about the westward movement and what life was like for the small farmer in the middle of the 19th century.
August 25, 2023
How amazing that it could be so enjoyable to enter into the life of an author who writes about times more than 100 years ago--who writes in 1917 of times full of hardship and disease and poverty. The "middle border" keeps moving farther west and Garland's father is eager to uproot his family and start over. The life of his mother is very hard and he is eager to ease that for her as he comes into money for his writing. I am eager to download the next book The Daughter of the Middle Border. The last words of this book anticipate the next as his mother expresses her wish for him to be married--to bring her a daughter and grandchildren.
January 3, 2023
What a poetic rendering of those bittersweet early pioneer days on the prairie! Garland's early days include exploring eastern states when he had nothing, very early attempts at making a living with writing, then wrenching his folks off the prairie to see California. His incredible story returns full-circle to his roots, along with his folks, to Wisconsin, proving his notion that the "pen had proved itself more profitable than the plow."
April 15, 2025
I wanted to get a realist depiction of settler life in the Midwest of 1860-90, and I guess I did not find it. The book is intensely personal, and many key circumstances of the times are either taken for granted or simply left out. The reader gets a really narrow view, one that is concentrated on Garland's extended family at Midwest farms and literary society of mostly Boston.
It was an interesting life section though.
It was an interesting life section though.
December 2, 2024
Truly outstanding. I was an English major in college, but somehow missed this one. One can observe the dawning of realism in this excellent autobiography that helps the reader to feel the life of pioneering families in the late 1800s
June 16, 2025
Knowledge of life in the midwest in the 19th century, with homesteading and battling the elements has always fascinated me. Hamlin Garland's autobiography shares his life as a writer which is another topic I cherish. This book brings me back to my roots.
February 4, 2018
An realistic narrative of the life of a man that grew up in the Midwest...I really enjoyed this book.
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