Review of Frontier Children. By Linda Peavey and Ursula Smith. Foreword by Elliott West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999. Xi + 164 pages. Notes and Index. Hard bound. ISBN 0-8061-3161-6 . $ 24.95.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s not a scholarly book, and probably contributes little or nothing to the history or folklore of the westward movement, but it was interesting to read and to look at. I think anyone would enjoy it.

While it is one of several books by Peavey and Smith that focus on women and children on the 19th century American frontier, it is a beautifully done coffee table book replete with photographs depicting the life and world of children. Though it makes a good effort to be an inclusive presentation, most of the text and most of the pictures are of white children. Photographs of Native American kids, while they include some candid shots, as on p. 117, are mostly of the “cute” category. Perhaps that’s a function of the kinds of photos that were taken, but, just having returned from a summer in the Navajo Nation, where I heard parents bewailing the abusive misrepresentations of Native American culture, I tend to be a bit hypersensitive. I don’t think it would be that difficult to more accurately represent Native American children. Also, why only a couple of pictures of African American and Asian-American kids? I believe that both groups were better represented on the American frontier than this book would lead us to believe.

So, overall, I think the book is quite flawed in terms of its representation of children on the frontier, and doubt that it contributes much to scholarship, but it’s a beautiful book. Anyone interested in the history of the American West will undoubtedly enjoy it.

Jim Vandergriff

Knox College

Galesburg, IL