O Pioneers!

By: Willa Cather

Narrated by: Kate Reading, Ken Burns (introduction)

"The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman," writes Willa Cather in O Pioneers!

The country is America; the woman is Alexandra Bergson, a fiercely independent young Swedish immigrant girl who inherits her father's farm in Nebraska. A model of emotional strength, courage, and resolve, Alexandra fights long and hard to transform her father's patch of raw, wind-blasted prairie into a highly profitable business.

A gripping saga of love, murder, greed, failure, and triumph, O Pioneers! vividly portrays the hardships of prairie life. Above all, it champions the belief that hard work is the surest road to personal fulfillment. Described upon publication in the New York Times as "American in the best sense of the word," O Pioneers! celebrates the men and women who struggled to build a nation that is both compelling and contradictory.

Bonus: In partnership with Audible and Playtone, the television and film producer behind the award-winning series Band of Brothers, John Adams, and The Pacific, this audiobook includes an original introduction, written and read by acclaimed documentarian Ken Burns. For more from Audible and Playtone, click here.

Public Domain (P)2010 Tantor

Great writing!

It was so succinct.

It was also an interesting contrast to modern values, standards and civility.

Worth It!

I enjoyed the story and the narrator. I was hoping for a happier ending. I have no dislikes.

Listen to a version other than this one.

The performance negatively impacted the quality of the experience. This story leans heavily toward the sentimental anyway, and the voice performance made this worthwhile tale too saccharine for my palate.

Perfect timing

Somehow this story hits a timely note today. The struggle to be your true self, to hear your own intuition and follow a course in the midst of society expectations. Beautiful!

Punch in the gut

The story is gripping and classic Cather. The reader however kept inflection the wrong words. I got over it, but it was frustrating.