Let the Hurricane Roar by Rose Wilder Lane: a Review

Charles and Caroline endure tragedy after tragedy on the prairie, but they have the strength to endure. Sound familiar? If you're a Little House on the Prairie fan, it probably does. But the book I'm reviewing here isn't by Laura Ingalls Wilder at all: it's Let the Hurricane Roar by Laura's only daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. Let the Hurrican Roar has also been published under the name Young Pioneers.

Comparing Let the Hurricane Roar and the Little House Books

As an avowed Laura Ingalls Wilder fan, I had been anxious to read Rose Wilder Lane's books for years. For one thing, I was curious to compare Laura and Rose's writing styles, since many have alleged that Rose not only encouraged Laura to write the Little House books when Laura was in her 60s, but that Rose heavily edited - and perhaps even wrote - the series. After all, Rose was a well-known ghostwriter and editor in her day.

Indeed, Let the Hurricane Roar bore many similarities to the Little House books. The writing styles were very similar. Readers familiar with the Little House books will also recognize many of the events in Rose's book: a successful wheat crop totally destroyed by grasshoppers, a brutally cold winter in which a herd of cattle stood stock-still with their breath frozen over their eyes and noses, Charles traveling away from the family to find work on a railroad.

However, Let the Hurricane Roar is different from the Little House books as well. The Little House series was written with an audience of children in mind, but Rose's book is much more grim in feel. I actually felt stressed while reading it. In the book, Charles and Caroline have a baby boy, but there are no other children to show us life through their eyes or to lighten up the mood. As a reader I developed a feeling of "what tragedy will happen next," and perhaps that's intended: life in pioneer days was definitely tougher than what most of us face on a daily basis.

In reading the similar tales told in Rose's and Laura's stories, I began to wonder about the Little House books more closely. Did the events in those books happen as Laura told them, or did she simply take various memories and plug them into the books wherever they seemed to fit?

Rose Wilder Lane, Early Libertarian

My research has shown me that Rose was an early leader in the libertarian philosophical and political movement. The libertarian beliefs of earning one's keep through effort and hard work come through clearly in Let the Hurricane Roar. Charles and Caroline work to build their homestead and plant their crops, and when the crops fail, Charles immediately sets off to find a railroad job. When the neighbor who was to look after Caroline moves, Caroline resolutely decides to over-winter by herself in the homestead. They emphasize, over and over, the resilience and do-it-yourself values that Rose championed.

I encourage you to give Let the Hurricane Roar a try. I predict you won't complain about your own problems even once for the next week or two!

SOURCES:The Freeman Online: Rose Wilder Lane, Isabel Paterson, and Ayn Rand: Three Women Who Inspired the Modern Libertarian Movement