ebooks Okinawa’s GI Brides: Their Lives in America by Etsuko Takushi Crissey in History

Description

Lydia Spencer Lane's account of her life as a young army bride on the early southwestern frontier is both invaluable history and delightful commentary. As an officer's wife; Lane left her home in Pennsylvania in 1854 to accompany her new husband to his first post in the West--the encampment at Fort Inge; Texas; then in the midst of a yellow-fever epidemic. For the next sixteen years; Lane crossed the Great Plains by wagon seven times; traveled nearly 8;000 miles; raised three children; and became accustomed to tours of duty that required the family to move at least every six months to a different set of military forts; frontier garrisons; and trailside bivouacs across New Mexico and Texas.First published in 1893 and unavailable for nearly a decade; Lane's narrative manifests a dry wit that lends humor to events that range from the uncomfortable to the terrifying. Through her eyes we see the close-knit social life of an army post; the western frontier's divided response to the American Civil War (including the Confederate invasion of the Mesilla Valley); and the cultures and peoples of the West. As Darlis Miller makes clear in her Introduction; Lane's courage; her sense of humor; her powers of observation; and her obvious love for the western landscape make her an unforgettable narrator; a valuable historian; and a bold exemplar of strength under pressure.