It’s time to take a new look at an author who wrote most of her work nearly 100 years ago! Edna Ferber won the Pulitzer Prize in 1925 for her novel So Big. She also penned the book that’s the basis of the musical Showboat and two books made in to successful movies, Giant and Cimarron. However, very few modern readers know her name. All of her stories deal with racial tension and gender bias, topics rarely addressed so openly in her day but certainly resonate today. She exposes the treatment of Mexicans, Native Americans, and African Americans in ways that don’t always portray her main characters in the best light, yet her heroines like Selina Peake De Jong of So Big, gambler’s daughter, single mother, and farm to table pioneer, exemplify feminism before it became fashionable.
If this exceptional author interests you, check out my review of her books on my latest podcast (transcription included in blog post).