Gene Stratton-Porter

An author that is rapidly fading--unfairly--into obscurity is Gene Stratton-Porter. Well, maybe I shouldn't say that. Some people refuse to read her because she is politically incorrect. Other people today still love her for her conservationism.

Stratton-Porter loved the Limberlost Swamp in Indiana. Most of her books have something to do with the Limberlost, the most famous example being A Girl of the Limberlost.

She writes about nature, animals, and insects. Her books often feature self-supporting orphans or semi-orphans. (Michael O'Halleran, The Keeper of the Bees, Girl of the Limberlost, and Freckles. These are her best-known books along with Laddie.)

Her books are often a love sonnet to nature. She really does make nature seem precious and interesting. Her books are making a comeback for that reason. For instance, Freckles is about a one-handed orphan who guards the Limberlost against timber thieves. A Girl of the Limberlost is about a young lady who lives in the swamp. She marvels at nature and manages to pay her way through school by helping others learn about it and using it in a sustainable way.

Her characters can be one-dimensional. The good guys/gals are good. There isn't often an overt "bad guy." The conflict comes from survival and moral decisions. This may strike some people as sappy. I find it refreshing. I get a little tired of huge dramatized conflicts and damaged people. There are plenty of those sorts of people out there, so I believe there should be books about them, but I also know personally a lot of people who are not too different than her characters.

Stratton-Porter definitely had a Christian world-view. She also believed that it is liberating to live "manhood" to the fullest if you are a man, and to live "womanhood" to the fullest if one is a woman is immensely satisfying.

Stratton-Porter is considered a writer of such importance that her log cabin and its contents have been preserved. Although I live in the Hoosier state, I am not certain how many Hoosiers have read her books. I know my local libraries are stashed full of old copies.

Has anybody else read Stratton-Porter? What other books about conservationism are there? I would think they would be getting more popular. There is Hoot, of course, but surely there are others?