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Frontier House
Go west with PBS in this behind-the-scenes look at the television series that sent modern-day Americans "back in time" to the harsh frontier of 1880s Montana.
Frontier House
America's period of westward expansion has long captured the imagination of history buffs and adventurous spirits; the era seems to embody the very daring enterprise that made America what it is today. As a result, frontier life has often been romanticized in television and film. But all of that changed with PBS's Frontier House.
Bringing the trials and triumphs of nineteenth-century homesteaders to life in a way we might never have imagined, Frontier House re-creates life in the wilderness for three households of spirited twenty-first-century Americans and documents their six-month experience for television.
Roughing it on their allotted plots of land while all of America watches, these brave souls relinquish grocery stores, microwaves, and plumbing in favor of raising chickens, churning butter, and outhouses. Gone are all the modern amenities they're accustomed to. In their just the will to do whatever it takes to survive.
Covering the inception of the show, the historical basis for the lifestyle re-created, the selection of the participants, the logistical challenges of production, and the impact of this experiment on the participants -- along with profiles of actual nineteenth-century homesteaders -- Frontier House is a first-rate companion to one of the most innovative and fascinating reality shows of our time.
Frontier House
America's period of westward expansion has long captured the imagination of history buffs and adventurous spirits; the era seems to embody the very daring enterprise that made America what it is today. As a result, frontier life has often been romanticized in television and film. But all of that changed with PBS's Frontier House.
Bringing the trials and triumphs of nineteenth-century homesteaders to life in a way we might never have imagined, Frontier House re-creates life in the wilderness for three households of spirited twenty-first-century Americans and documents their six-month experience for television.
Roughing it on their allotted plots of land while all of America watches, these brave souls relinquish grocery stores, microwaves, and plumbing in favor of raising chickens, churning butter, and outhouses. Gone are all the modern amenities they're accustomed to. In their just the will to do whatever it takes to survive.
Covering the inception of the show, the historical basis for the lifestyle re-created, the selection of the participants, the logistical challenges of production, and the impact of this experiment on the participants -- along with profiles of actual nineteenth-century homesteaders -- Frontier House is a first-rate companion to one of the most innovative and fascinating reality shows of our time.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
236 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2002
1 person is currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
Simon Shaw
40 books4 followersSimon Shaw studied at Cambridge University and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He worked as an actor until the publication of his first novel, Murder Out of Tune, in 1988, since when he has concentrated mostly on writing and journalism. Killing Grace is his eigth novel. He is an assistant editor of The Week and is a regular book reviewer for The Mail on Sunday.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 27, 2016
Like many others, I read this book after having loved the series it was written for. The show itself was great and informative, but this book brought so much more, both of the experiences of the families on Frontier House as well as true accounts of lives on the frontier. It was well written and, for the most part, very well-balanced. The inclusion of photos from the experience as well as historical ones was a very welcome and wonderful addition.
When watching the show, Karen drove me up the wall with her holier-than-thou attitude, but the book does a much better job of portraying her as a whole: hard-working, dedicated to making the experience as authentic as possible, and passionate. The Clunes, on the other hand, were truly worse than I had ever imagined. Lie, cheat, steal and kill (had he been allowed) was seemingly Gordon's motto through the whole thing, and despite how hard his kids worked to immerse themselves in the experience, he seemed to feel he was the true historian and knew more than the experts about what life would have been like, so did basically whatever he felt like at any time. Without saying much more, that family should never have been a part of this project. They spit in its face and likely made their real homestead ancestors shudder in embarrassment.
I highly, highly recommend this book. If you've seen the show, it's a fantastic filler for the little bits and pieces behind the scenes. If not, it'll definitely help in fleshing out the imagine of what life would have been like in the 1880s on a homestead.
When watching the show, Karen drove me up the wall with her holier-than-thou attitude, but the book does a much better job of portraying her as a whole: hard-working, dedicated to making the experience as authentic as possible, and passionate. The Clunes, on the other hand, were truly worse than I had ever imagined. Lie, cheat, steal and kill (had he been allowed) was seemingly Gordon's motto through the whole thing, and despite how hard his kids worked to immerse themselves in the experience, he seemed to feel he was the true historian and knew more than the experts about what life would have been like, so did basically whatever he felt like at any time. Without saying much more, that family should never have been a part of this project. They spit in its face and likely made their real homestead ancestors shudder in embarrassment.
I highly, highly recommend this book. If you've seen the show, it's a fantastic filler for the little bits and pieces behind the scenes. If not, it'll definitely help in fleshing out the imagine of what life would have been like in the 1880s on a homestead.
July 9, 2014
I got this book after seeing the TV show of the same name. I don't think the show was that popular at least in the UK. But both the show and the book are great.
A few modern day American families are 'taken back' to late 19th century Montana to build a house and fend for themselves. After initial trials and (especially teenage) moaning they all do well and subsequently find modern life hard to adjust to.
An abiding memory is seeing teenage and stereotypical Californian rich kids looking after cows and chopping wood and becoming better people because of it.
It's a great book and will afford the sense of living in the past while sitting in your armchair!
A few modern day American families are 'taken back' to late 19th century Montana to build a house and fend for themselves. After initial trials and (especially teenage) moaning they all do well and subsequently find modern life hard to adjust to.
An abiding memory is seeing teenage and stereotypical Californian rich kids looking after cows and chopping wood and becoming better people because of it.
It's a great book and will afford the sense of living in the past while sitting in your armchair!
April 29, 2017
An excellent companion to the PBS series with more research on homesteading, anecdotes about the families' lives on the frontier cut for TV, and further conclusions on the project.
May 4, 2011
I forgot I even had this book, but after re-watching "Frontier House" I remembered how obsessed with the show I was nine years ago, and I dug up the book, which I had never actually completely read. It's an excellent companion piece to the series, and would probably hold up well for those who haven't seen the show at all, as there are a lot of actual stories of frontier life scattered throughout the text.
But for anyone who is a fan of the show, this is a MUST read...
But for anyone who is a fan of the show, this is a MUST read...
May 6, 2014
I didn't see the tv series as I am in the UK but the book is very good at capturing the feel of the experiment with lots of photos and explanatory text. I really enjoyed finding out about the selection process, the family members and what their expectations were going into the series and afterwards.
October 2, 2019
Interesting book but it's even better to watch the documentary.
November 30, 2014
This book is a great companion to the PBS series FRONTIER HOUSE. It gives you an inside look thru diary entries and interviews of how they were feeling living on the Frontier.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews