Wild Mares

Dianna Hunter is author of the book and radio series Breaking Hard Ground: Stories of the Minnesota Farm Advocates. She taught writing and women’s and gender studies at four universities, including the University of Wisconsin–Superior, where she was a lecturer and director until she retired in 2012.

• Prologue1. The Great Man and the Dead Cow2. MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD World3. They Can’t Kill Us All (Can They?)4. A Room of My Own 5. Getting There6. The First Lesbian Conference7. Country Lesbian Manifesto8. The Trouble with Land9. Suzanne Takes You Down10. Family of Woman11. Women, Horses, and Other Embodied Spirits12. Lurk-in-the-Ditch13. Another Dance and a Funeral14. At the Speed of Hooves15. Rising Moon16. Making Hay17. Mel’s Place (Dick Pulls Us Through)18. Del Lago 19. Thundering Ice, Talking Spirits20. Ravenna’s Refuge21. Dancing Leads to This22. Divorce and Dispossession23. Going, Going, GoneAcknowledgmentsResources

"Dianna Hunter’s engaging memoir thoughtfully recounts a feminist era, ethos, and way of life that until recently has been largely lost to the historical record. Told with nuanced self-reflection and respect for wider contexts, Hunter’s stories will challenge any narrow assumptions about what it was like to create and live the ‘second wave.’"-Finn Enke, author of Finding the Movement"Wild Mares is the riveting story of the struggles and integrity of a contemporary pioneer who tried to change the world with few resources other than her own extraordinary courage, stamina, resourcefulness, and idealism. From teaching the first women’s studies class at her college, to chopping wood and hauling it home through snowdrifts on a horse-drawn sleigh, to operating her own dairy farm, to advocating at the state government for struggling farmers, Dianna Hunter is an inspiring feminist force."-Nancy Manahan, author of Lesbian Nuns: Breaking Silence"Wild Mares helps to remind people reading it in 2018 and beyond that much work has been done over the decades in the LGBTQ community, but the forces that aim to divide and regress are always present"-Woman Today"A worthwhile look at non-traditional twentieth-century farming, and at Midwestern lesbian history."-South Florida Gay News"Wild Mares refers to the horses Hudson loved, but also to the eager, sometimes-confused and socially-conscious wild young lesbians on whose shoulders the new generations stand."-Twin Cities Pioneer Press"Wild Mares is a slow burn of a read that offers an important glimpse into a slice of all-too-recent history. There is power in storytelling, in lifting voices, in showing how we were part of major cultural moments. " -AutoStraddle