The Sodbreakers: People Who Lived and Died Settling the West, Paperback

Contributor(s):

• Author: Edith Eudora Ammons Kohl
• Introduction by: Clifford T. Ammons

In "The Sodbreakers," Edith Kohl writes of her exciting experiences as she helped countless homesteaders settle the frontier area around Lusk and Van Tassell, Wyoming in the early 1900s. As background, the Homestead Acts offered free ownership of 270 million acres of public land (10% of America) to people who settle the undeveloped lands west of the Mississippi River. 1.6 million homesteaders respondedIn Edith Kohl's own words, "It was a hodge-podge of humanity thrown into a topsy-turvy world in the making without method or experience, without finance or leadership. Band after band of settlers, one No-Man's Land after another, cowboys and Indians, stockmen and homesteader, primitive and progress, all fighting for supremacy. Chaotic, exciting, or desolate and remote and as virgin as in the Beginning." Edith Kohl recorded these historic events from personal experience because she was part of it - she lived itHer craft of words paints vivid images of what she experienced as she describes the sights, sounds, people and events. She does this so well, it allows readers - generations later - to more fully understand and appreciate the harsh realities of how America's West was settled. This book is the second in Edith Kohl's trilogy entitled, "Conquering the Wild West - Edith Kohl's Trilogy." The first book is "Land of the Burnt Thigh" followed by "The Sodbreakers" and then finally, "Woman of the Cavalcade." Each book gives readers a unique "peek behind the curtain" as Edith describes the people and exciting, sometimes tragic, events as they unfolded. Reading her books is like hearing her voice tell us these remarkable true stories. In so doing, her books comprise an important literary treasure for all Americans who value the history of our country's beginnings. Cliff Ammons, Edith Kohl's nephew, only recently discovered all three of Edith's original, typed manuscripts in her old, "ratty-looking" suitcase that was left unopened for well over fifty yearsCliff now presents all of his aunt's first-hand, historic accounts as she describes her remarkable experiences involved in the settling of America's undeveloped wild West. All three of her books are now available for the first time on Amazon.com in paperback and eBook formats. Readers are in for a treat