Pulitzer Prize Fiction Winner
One of Ours
by Willa Cather
Summary
Restless Nebraska farm boy Claude Wheeler chafes against the narrow horizons of rural life and an unsatisfying marriage before finding meaning as a soldier in the trenches of France during the First World War. Cather contrasts the spiritual barrenness she saw in modern materialist America with the searing intensity of wartime experience. The novel marked her shift from prairie pastoral toward a more disenchanted, internationally minded vision.
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Historical Context & Significance
Cather spent years researching the war through the letters of her cousin who died in France; the book was a massive bestseller despite some critics hating its romanticized view of combat.