On Sidesaddles to Heaven: The Women of the Rocky Mountain Mission - Softcover

"Gracefully written, this lively narrative is popular history at its best."-Glenda Riley, President, Western History Association "Sets the story apart from previous treatments and makes it an engaging, perceptive, and readable treatment." - Robert M. Utley, author of The Lance and the Shield "In addition to giving readers a good sense of these women as real people - not simply stoic helpmates in a great historical drama perpetuated by their missionary husbands - Carlson provides many telling details about aspects of frontier life, such as feminine hygiene, childbearing and sanitary practices, that previous historical accounts have overlooked. This book is a wonderful example of history from a woman's point of view, and it does a fine job of bringing the past vividly to life. Highly recommended." - Victorian Decorating and Lifestyle Magazine

Laurie Winn Carlson analyzes the lives of the first six white women - missionary wives - to cross the Rocky Mountains. At a time when a woman's fortune and future was tied to the man she married, four of the six women married virtual strangers, on short notice, with no financial security. Why did they take such a gamble?