This is the biography of Kate M. Cleary, a 19th century Nebraska writer whose sketches, short stories, essays, and poetry concentrated on the experiences of pioneer women, including a selection of her writings. Treats Cleary in relation to the growth of a small town, ideas of women's duties and rights, the issues of birth control, childbirth, and drug addiction.

Susanne K. George is a professor of English at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. She is the author of The Adventures of The Woman Homesteader: The Life and Letters of Elinore Pruitt Stewart, also available in a Bison Books edition.