logo

54 pages 1 hour read

David Laskin

The Children's Blizzard

David LaskinNonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2004

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Key Figures

David Laskin

David Laskin, an author of multiple books on history, weather, and literary biography, was educated at Harvard and Oxford in history and literature. He started his career as a book publisher before embarking on a freelance writing career. He was a reporter for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Seattle Metropolitan. Mentored by another well-known historical author, Ivan Doig, Laskin is known for his thorough primary-source research that forms the narratives of his nonfiction books.

His books focus on the biographies of ordinary people caught up in vast historical events. One of his books covers the history of his own family’s immigration from Europe and their ensuing diaspora, and another addresses the lives of a dozen immigrants who served in World War I. The Children’s Blizzard is the most lauded of Laskin’s work, a 2006 national bestseller that earned several awards. His meticulous research of immigrant accounts from the Great Plains states during the expansion of the Homestead Act is a result of his education as a historian, bringing to life the forgotten stories of the Scandinavian and Eastern European immigrants who populated the Midwest and survived its weather travails. His research into the particulars of meteorology also inform the blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text