Judy Busk (M.A., Brigham Young University) has been a popular columnist for the Southern Utah Daily Spectrum and a distinguished English and journalism teacher in Richfield, Utah—the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities/Reader's Digest Teacher Scholar Award. She created and oversaw the successful Sevier County Oral History Project (excerpts available on the Columbia University New Deal Network website) with grants from the Utah Humanities Council and Utah State Historical Society. Earlier, she was an exchange student to the Soviet Union, and she and her family have lived in Germany and Japan. More recently, she has enjoyed her status as a "mature" graduate student and responsibilities to other women in her community as an LDS Relief Society president. She also serves on the Utah Humanities Council board of directors.

From the jacket flap:

On some level, we are all products of those who have gone before, and we owe a great debt to our predecessors. But looking at the issue more closely, we realize that we are also, in part, products of image makers who mold public perceptions of famous people. We don't always know how these people have dealt with day-to-day issues or what lessons we unconsciously absorb from public images. For instance, we hear of the heroism of pioneer women, but the portraits of quiet conformity on one hand and brazen non-conformity on the other hand are contradictory. Eliminating carefully constructed images, Judy Busk wonders how these women dealt with personal issues such as depression, isolation, family planning, and ambition beyond the domestic sphere.

She also probes the private attitudes of her own ancestors. For example, her husband's colorful "Granny Pectol" was strong willed and seemingly independent; but behind the scenes, Dorothy Delilah confided her insecurities and concealed romantic sentiments in secret codes.

At the other end of the spectrum, Busk's maternal great-great-grandmother, Ane Andersen ("Little Anna"), stood her ground when her husband, Niels Peter, announced that he was taking a second wife. Anna's response was along the lines of "Not in my house!" So her husband moved out and left Anna alone to live in the shadows. Nevertheless, Anna had a profound influence on her children, who surrounded her and accepted her blessing before she died.

Pioneer women, in other words, were as varied as women are today—strong but not without uncertainties and idiosyncracies. Being less than perfect is nothing new, but Busk finds comfort in knowing that these trail-blazing women were human beings in whose footsteps we can indeed follow.

"Valuable insights ... significant parallels between the author's pioneer progenitors and ... (after the death of a child, clinical depression, and breast cancer) ... the young, romanticized view she once had of herself." —Laura L. Bush, Arizona State University; author of Faithful Transgressions in the American West: Six Twentieth-Century Mormon Women's Autobiographical Acts

"Busk skillfully weaves together two narrative threads, the personal and the historical. A well-written volume ... insightful and revelatory." —Carol Cornwall Madsen, Senior Research Fellow and Professor of History Emeritus, Brigham Young University; author of In Their Own Words: Women and the Story of Nauvoo and Journey to Zion: Voices from the Mormon Trail

"Busk draws on diverse material to lovingly piece together "quilt blocks" for her chapters. ... She finds deep, personal connections between pioneer women's struggles and events of her own life, as well as comfort in the arms of her husband. This is an informed, personal narrative and a love story." —Diana Major Spencer, Dean of Humanities, Snow College; "Road Scholar," Utah Humanities Council

"With warmth and candor, Busk invites today's women to feel an emotional kinship with ... pioneer women [portrayed] realistically as humans ... courageously and honestly blending her own story with theirs. She illuminates ... the past and present." —Lyndia Carter, Program Director, Crossroads Chapter, Oregon and California Trails Association

"Intriguing and intimate knowledge of pioneer women ... thoughtful and humorous. ... These are not just stories of sunbonneted Saints or a frivolous travelogue. ... One senses authenticity in these stories. ... I enthusiastically recommend this book." —Linda Fields, Richfield (Utah) City Librarian