In the early 1900s people in the prairie states started going insane, literally. Enter Willa Cather with her 1913 novel, O Pioneers!, to capture the loneliness and darkness of life on the plains.

In the old days, women writers tended to start their careers late, and I’ll bet that, on average, they still do. When I was young, people trying to encourage us held up the example of George Eliot, ...

They were the pioneers of John F. Kennedy's New Frontier, fueled by a potent mix of idealism and optimism. The U.S. Peace Corps volunteers in the 1960s were also enthusiastic chroniclers of their ...