Frontier House

by Simon Shaw, Linda Peavy (Contributor), Ursula Smith (Draft Writer)

A companion volume to the new PBS series Frontier House offers behind-the-scenes details on the planning, production, casting, and filming of the six-hour series, along with informative sidebars offering historical perspectives, profiles of real-life settlers, and the social and cultural aspects of life of pioneers in the American West.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2002

About the author

Simon 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.

Reviews

[Elizabeth Webster · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Rain · Rating 4 out of 5]

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...

[Shauna · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Jessi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book but it's even better to watch the documentary.

[ReadingWench · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.