Publisher's Synopsis
One of Ours is a novel by Willa Cather, first published in 1922. The book tells the story of Claude Wheeler, a young man from a small town in Nebraska who longs for adventure and purpose in his life. After marrying a woman he doesn't truly love, Claude enlists in the army during World War I, hoping to find meaning and heroism in the conflict. The novel explores themes of identity, patriotism, and the impact of war on individuals and communities. Through Claude's experiences in the army, the book portrays the harsh realities of war and the toll it takes on soldiers, as well as the disillusionment and loss of innocence that can come with the realization that war is not the glorious adventure that many imagine it to be. One of Ours won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1923, and is considered one of Cather's most important works. It is a powerful and moving exploration of the human experience in the face of war and the search for purpose and meaning in life.1922. Cather won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, One of Ours, about a midwestern American's journey to the front of World War I. Claude Wheeler, the sensitive, aspiring protagonist of this beautifully modulated novel, resembles the youngest son of a peculiarly American fairy tale. His fortune is ready-made for him, but he refuses to settle for it. Alienated from his crass father and pious mother, all but rejected by a wife who reserves her ardor for missionary work, and dissatisfied with farming, Claude is an idealist without an ideal to cling to. It is only when his country enters the First World War that Claude finds what he has been searching for all his life. In One of Ours Willa Cather explores the destiny of a grandchild of the pioneers, a young Nebraskan whose yearnings impel him toward a frontier bloodier and more distant than the one that vanished before his birth. In doing so, she creates a canny and extraordinarily vital portrait of an American psyche at once skeptical and romantic, restless and heroic. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
