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Building upon his analysis of Wilder's activities and writings and mining documentary sources, including various drafts of her novels, Miller shows not only the extent to which her writings emerged directly out of her own experiences as a girl and young woman, but also how they were shaped and embellished by artistic intent. Wilder depended heavily upon her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane - an established novelist, biographer and magazine writer - for editing and polishing her manuscripts. Without Lane's encouragement, publishing connections and example, the novels never would have been written. In addition to describing Wilder's apprenticeship as a farm newspaper columnist and occasional magazine writer before she began the production of her novels, Miller discusses Wilder's activities on her family's Rocky Ridge farm, and as a vital citizen in Mansfield, Missouri. 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Born in 1868 to former slaves, Scott Joplin lived at a time when white Americans routinely denied African Americans basic civil rights, economic opportunities, and social standing. In spite of these tremendous obstacles, Joplin and other musicians created a musical form that was eagerly embraced by white, middle-class Americans. By the early 1900s, many writers agreed that Negro music - especially spirituals and ragtime - was the only true American music. As one of the creators of ragtime, Joplin moved between black and white society, and his experience offers a window into the complex forces of class, race, and culture that shaped modern America. Framed by two decisive events in American history, the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1868 and America's entrance into the Great War in Europe in 1917, Scott Joplin's extraordinary life illuminates a crucial period in the evolution of American culture. During those years Joplin lived in a variety of communities, and his experience permits a glimpse into the ways black and white Americans responded to this changing culture in Reconstruction Texas, small-town Missouri, and two important urban cultural centers - St. Louis and New York. Echoing the ragtime music she celebrates, Curtis counterpoints the story of American cultural history with the fascinating events of Joplin's life. 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