Constructing the Little House: Gender, Culture, and Laura Ingalls Wilder Book

As a Little House fan and a history/ social/ cultural studies lover, I had high hopes for this book. I had always wondered about the story behind the Little House books, the culture and its views on gender at the time. I was quite disappointed. Some of the author's ideas were often extremely far-fetched and I found her arguments quite weak, backed up by few historical facts. I felt like the author read in between the lines excessively at times and twisted the evidence to support her preconceived arguments (instead of using the text/ evidence to arrive at her arguments). For instance the book suggests that there was an incestuous relationship between Laura and Pa and insists that straw stacks and guns in the LH books are phallic symbols!