Overview

Betty Bard MacDonald (1907-1958), the best-selling author of The Egg and I and the classic Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle children's books, burst onto the literary scene shortly after the end of World War II. Readers embraced her memoir of her years as a young bride operating a chicken ranch on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, and The Egg and I sold its first million copies in less than a year. The public was drawn to MacDonald's vivacity, her offbeat humor, and her irreverent take on life. In 1947, the book was made into a movie starring Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert, and spawned a series of films featuring MacDonald's Ma and Pa Kettle characters. MacDonald followed up the success of The Egg and I with the creation of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, a magical woman who cures children of their bad habits, and with three additional memoirs: The Plague and I (chronicling her time in a tuberculosis sanitarium just outside Seattle), Anybody Can Do Anything (recounting her madcap attempts to find work during the Great Depression), and Onions in the Stew (about her life raising two teenage daughters on Vashon Island). Author Paula Becker was granted full access to Betty MacDonald's archives, including materials never before seen by any researcher. Looking for Betty MacDonald, a biography of this endearing Northwest storyteller, reveals the story behind the memoirs and the difference between the real Betty MacDonald and her literary persona. Watch the book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lr6iVK4zWk

Full Product Details

9780295999364

Table of Contents

Reviews

Paula Becker's astute, affectionate and often startling Looking for Betty MacDonald is the first biography of this singular American writer... The biography fills in crucial and sometimes shocking gaps in her story, rendering MacDonald's achievements all the more extraordinary... Becker is a historian and writes with a historian's precision, but she has a fan's insight and warmth. The result is a thorough and illuminating biography that, with any luck, will lead a new generation of readers to MacDonald's own remarkable work. -- Jennifer Reese Washington Post The Egg and I, The Plague and I and Anybody Can Do Anything practically cavort off the page. How did [Betty MacDonald] do it? Seattle author Paula Becker has some answers in her compact, finely crafted biography. -- Michael Upchurch Seattle Times A smart and immensely readable portrait, taking readers through MacDonald's life... Becker has combed every interview and profile, and her book veritably glows with MacDonald's recaptured wit... Thanks to Paula Becker's exhaustive research and the compassionate, standard-setting book she's shaped out of it, 21st century readers can meet a much fuller and more fascinating version of that complex, challenging, laughing woman. Readers of her books will still want to thank her, but thanks to Looking for Betty MacDonald, they'll know her much better. -- Steve Donoghue Open Letters Monthly The pages zing with unexpected detail and nuggets of lacerating wit... If you're Looking for Betty MacDonald, you need look no further. -- Barbara McMichael Kitsap Sun I was delighted to explore MacDonald's life and work through Paula Becker's thoughtful, painstakingly researched biography, and even more thrilled to see that University of Washington Press is going to be reprinting three hard-to-find later works by the bestselling author of The Egg and I: Anybody Can Do Anything, The Plague and I, and Onions in the Stew... If you're not a MacDonald enthusiast, you will be soon... We can be grateful that Becker has preserved it for us in words, and has given us valuable insights into her world, her books, her family, and the writer herself. -- Lory Widmer Hess Emerald City Book Review

Paula Beckers astute, affectionate and often startling Looking for Betty MacDonald is the first biography of this singular American writer... The biography fills in crucial and sometimes shocking gaps in her story, rendering MacDonalds achievements all the more extraordinary... Becker is a historian and writes with a historians precision, but she has a fans insight and warmth. The result is a thorough and illuminating biography that, with any luck, will lead a new generation of readers to MacDonalds own remarkable work. -- Jennifer Reese Washington Post The Egg and I, The Plague and I and Anybody Can Do Anything practically cavort off the page. How did [Betty MacDonald] do it? Seattle author Paula Becker has some answers in her compact, finely crafted biography. -- Michael Upchurch Seattle Times A smart and immensely readable portrait, taking readers through MacDonalds life... Becker has combed every interview and profile, and her book veritably glows with MacDonalds recaptured wit... Thanks to Paula Beckers exhaustive research and the compassionate, standard-setting book shes shaped out of it, 21st century readers can meet a much fuller and more fascinating version of that complex, challenging, laughing woman. Readers of her books will still want to thank her, but thanks to Looking for Betty MacDonald, theyll know her much better. -- Steve Donoghue Open Letters Monthly The pages zing with unexpected detail and nuggets of lacerating wit... If youre Looking for Betty MacDonald, you need look no further. -- Barbara McMichael Kitsap Sun I was delighted to explore MacDonalds life and work through Paula Beckers thoughtful, painstakingly researched biography, and even more thrilled to see that University of Washington Press is going to be reprinting three hard-to-find later works by the bestselling author of The Egg and I: Anybody Can Do Anything, The Plague and I, and Onions in the Stew... If youre not a MacDonald enthusiast, you will be soon... We can be grateful that Becker has preserved it for us in words, and has given us valuable insights into her world, her books, her family, and the writer herself. -- Lory Widmer Hess Emerald City Book Review

Author Information

Paula Becker is a staff historian at HistoryLink.org. She is the coauthor of The Future Remembered: The 1962 Seattle World's Fair and Its Legacy and Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, Washington's First World Fair.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available