One of Ours

Willa Cather’s profound Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is an almost serene World War I story. One of Ours captures the inner depths of ordinary people and delves into their everyday thoughts and lives.

Claude Wheeler is struggling to find direction for his life. Under his parents’ wishes, he is studying at a Christian college, but he lacks the devout, pious attitude that comes so easily to his mother. When his father expands the family farm, Claude finds himself having to leave university, return home to Nebraska, and help his parents to manage the successful land. Soon, he finds himself in a loveless marriage with even less hope for the future than before.

The second half of this thought-provoking volume commences as the US joins World War I. Leaving behind everything he knows, Claude signs up to the US Army and is stationed in France. Could this be his life’s purpose? How will the turmoil of war impact a young man raised in the countryside?

This 1922 masterpiece won Willa Cather a Pulitzer Prize in 1923. The remarkable story is accompanied by an introductory essay by H. L. Mencken in this brand new edition, and is not to be missed by fans of historical fiction or collectors of Cather’s work.